Phone SeizedCompare jurisdictionsMust I give them the passcode?

Must I give them the passcode?

Applies to: England & Wales · Scotland · Australia · United States. The law differs materially between jurisdictions this site covers — do not apply this page outside the one named here. Law also varies by state and territory in Australia — this page does not describe every state or territory. Law also varies by state, and by federal circuit, in the United States — this page does not describe every state or circuit.

Must I give them the passcode?

Must I give them the passcode? — one column per jurisdiction, each answer quoted to its source.
England & Wales	Scotland	Australia	United States
Must — refusing is an offence In England and Wales, once you have been served a formal notice under s.49 of RIPA requiring you to disclose a passcode, knowingly failing to comply is a criminal offence under s.53. An officer simply asking for your PIN is not the same as being served a s.49 notice — see rightsandlimits.com’s guide to the difference. Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, s.53(1) “A person to whom a section 49 notice has been given is guilty of an offence if he knowingly fails, in accordance with the notice, to make the disclosure required by virtue of the giving of the notice.” Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08	Must — refusing is an offence In Scotland, the same UK-wide RIPA notice regime applies — once a s.49 notice has been served, knowingly failing to disclose the passcode is a criminal offence under s.53. An officer simply asking for your PIN is not the same as being served a s.49 notice — see rightsandlimits.com’s guide to the difference. Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, s.53(1) “A person to whom a section 49 notice has been given is guilty of an offence if he knowingly fails, in accordance with the notice, to make the disclosure required by virtue of the giving of the notice.” Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08	Must — refusing is an offence In Australia, once a magistrate has made an order under s.3LA of the Crimes Act requiring you to provide access to a device, failing to comply is a criminal offence. At the border, Australian Border Force policy says there is no legal compulsion to give a passcode — but refusing lets an officer seize the device instead; see “At the border?” below. Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), s.3LA(5) — penalty tier one (Compilation No. 167, 27 Aug 2026) “A person commits an offence if:— the person is subject to an order under this section; and— the person is capable of complying with a requirement in the order; and— the person omits to do an act; and— the omission contravenes the requirement.—Penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years or 300 penalty units, or both.” Read it at legislation.gov.auquote checked 2026-09-08	Unsettled In the United States, whether the Fifth Amendment protects you from being compelled to reveal a phone passcode is unsettled — federal circuits have reached different conclusions on closely related facts. The Ninth Circuit found a compelled biometric unlock not testimonial in 2024; the D.C. Circuit found a compelled passcode disclosure did violate the Fifth Amendment in 2025 — see the USA pages. U.S. Constitution, Fifth Amendment “nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself” Read it at law.cornell.eduquote checked 2026-09-08

England & Wales
Must — refusing is an offence
In England and Wales, once you have been served a formal notice under s.49 of RIPA requiring you to disclose a passcode, knowingly failing to comply is a criminal offence under s.53.
An officer simply asking for your PIN is not the same as being served a s.49 notice — see rightsandlimits.com’s guide to the difference.
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, s.53(1)
“A person to whom a section 49 notice has been given is guilty of an offence if he knowingly fails, in accordance with the notice, to make the disclosure required by virtue of the giving of the notice.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
Scotland
Must — refusing is an offence
In Scotland, the same UK-wide RIPA notice regime applies — once a s.49 notice has been served, knowingly failing to disclose the passcode is a criminal offence under s.53.
An officer simply asking for your PIN is not the same as being served a s.49 notice — see rightsandlimits.com’s guide to the difference.
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, s.53(1)
“A person to whom a section 49 notice has been given is guilty of an offence if he knowingly fails, in accordance with the notice, to make the disclosure required by virtue of the giving of the notice.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
Australia
Must — refusing is an offence
In Australia, once a magistrate has made an order under s.3LA of the Crimes Act requiring you to provide access to a device, failing to comply is a criminal offence.
At the border, Australian Border Force policy says there is no legal compulsion to give a passcode — but refusing lets an officer seize the device instead; see “At the border?” below.
Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), s.3LA(5) — penalty tier one (Compilation No. 167, 27 Aug 2026)
“A person commits an offence if:— the person is subject to an order under this section; and— the person is capable of complying with a requirement in the order; and— the person omits to do an act; and— the omission contravenes the requirement.—Penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years or 300 penalty units, or both.”
Read it at legislation.gov.auquote checked 2026-09-08
United States
Unsettled
In the United States, whether the Fifth Amendment protects you from being compelled to reveal a phone passcode is unsettled — federal circuits have reached different conclusions on closely related facts.
The Ninth Circuit found a compelled biometric unlock not testimonial in 2024; the D.C. Circuit found a compelled passcode disclosure did violate the Fifth Amendment in 2025 — see the USA pages.
U.S. Constitution, Fifth Amendment
“nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself”
Read it at law.cornell.eduquote checked 2026-09-08

The short answer, country by country

In England & Wales and Scotland, being asked for your PIN by an officer carries no penalty for declining. What changes that is a formal notice served under s.49 of RIPA — once that notice exists, knowingly failing to comply with it is a criminal offence under s.53.

In Australia, once a magistrate has made an order under s.3LA of the Crimes Act requiring you to help access a device, failing to comply is a criminal offence.

In the United States, whether the Fifth Amendment protects a compelled passcode is unsettled — federal circuits have reached different conclusions on similar facts.

Where the four differ

The UK and Australian positions share a structure: an ordinary request carries no penalty, and it is a specific formal step — a s.49 notice, a s.3LA order — that turns refusal into an offence. The US position is the odd one out: rather than a formal-step trigger, the underlying constitutional question itself is contested between circuits, so no single national answer exists yet.

At the Australian border specifically, the position is different again from the domestic s.3LA order — see At the border?

Read further

For the informal-request-versus-formal-notice distinction that matters most in England & Wales, see rightsandlimits.com’s guide to phone passwords. See also the RIPA s.49 notice, in full, computer access orders under s.3LA, the US passcode-versus-biometrics position, and passcode strength and why it matters.

Last reviewed 2026-09-08. Next review due 2026-12-08. No lawyer has reviewed this page — see [email protected] if you think something here is wrong.