The UK government wants to make damaging undersea cables a specific crime carrying up to 14 years in prison, and to let ministers order telecom companies to switch off services in a national emergency.
The plans sit in a White Paper, which is the UK term for an official policy document that precedes legislation. Interested parties can respond through an online questionnaire until January 14, 2027.
The penalties come in three tiers: up to 14 years for intentional conduct, 10 years for reckless conduct, and two years for grossly negligent conduct, plus potentially unlimited fines. The government is also weighing a higher maximum for the most serious cases. Separate offences would cover obstructing repairs and failing to preserve evidence when asked. The definition reaches beyond physical damage to remote electronic interference, cyber activity and certain preparatory conduct.
The emergency powers are the other half. Ministers could compel telecom companies to remove or disable services, and to give officials access to sensitive sites such as cable landing stations, where the cables come ashore.
The backdrop is a reported 500 incidents in four and a half years of Russian vessels loitering above cables, with reports that Russia uses commercial trawlers to map them. In January, Royal Navy attack helicopters chased off a Russian ship less than a mile from five cables in UK waters.
The paper itself says connectivity is resilient and faults rarely cause noticeable disruption, so this is mostly about deterrence and legal footing. The preparatory-conduct clause is the notable piece, since mapping a cable is far easier to do than to prove hostile. The government is also still deciding whether the offences would apply only in UK national waters or further afield. That matters, because a statute that stops at the territorial limit would miss much of the sea where the loitering happens.