MSF, the union for skilled and professional people, has pressed the Government to strengthen proposals for the regulation of employer surveillance at work.

The Government has published draft regulations which MSF said may not meet the obligations under the Human Rights Act that came into force yesterday.

The union made a submission to the Department of Trade and Industry on the draft Regulations on Lawful Business Practice regarding the Interception of Communications.

MSF argued for the closure of what it described as a loophole in the proposed regulations which implement European legislation in the UK.

MSF said the wording of the regulations in providing legal rights to intercept a communication without user consent was too unspecific and imprecise to meet the requirements of existing European legislation and the Human Rights Act.

The regulations, as drafted, enable an employer to determine unilaterally what amounts to unauthorised use of a system and then to intercept communications to detect such use without consent.

This, said the union, was a highly subjective application of the directive and would provide the potential for indiscriminate or arbitrary interception and monitoring of employee communications.