Britain has formally distanced itself from a call by Europe's human rights watchdog for an inquiry into the gathering of "vast amounts of electronic data" by intelligence agencies.

The government has added a special statement to a declaration on internet freedom saying that its wishes to "disassociate itself" from a call for the Council of Europe to examine "the deliberate building of flaws and 'backdoors' in the security system of the internet".

Britain, which also indicated that it would not be bound by any investigation, instead endorsed a declaration by the Council of Europe that data can be collected to protect national security subject to human rights laws.

The row broke out last week when Britain found itself isolated at a Council of Europe ministerial conference in Belgrade – Freedom of Expression and Democracy in the Digital Age. The publication of a 14-page document, due to be published on Friday by the 47 members of the body that established the European convention on human rights, had to be delayed after Britain said it could not accept a section on the gathering of data by intelligence agencies.

The disputed section of the draft declaration says: "We invited the Council of Europe to ... examine closely, in the light of the requirements of the European convention on human rights, the question of gathering vast amounts of electronic communications data on individuals by security agencies, the deliberate building of flaws and 'backdoors' in the security system of the internet or otherwise deliberately weakening encryption systems."

Britain was unable to block the declaration because no country retains a veto. But it appended a "United Kingdom statement" to the declaration to register its opposition to the disputed paragraph.

The statement said: "The United Kingdom needs to place formally on record that while it has not blocked consensus on this text, the UK needs to disassociate itself from paragraph 13(v). The UK strongly supports the overall approach of the resolution including supporting a free and open internet that promotes freedom of expression. However, as we stated during the plenary session, we are unable to accept the text of paragraph 13(v).

"The UK considers that paragraph 13(v) may have the effect of unduly constraining the scope of the work that the Council of Europe is invited to carry out. The UK proposed alternative language in line with the equivalent provision in the Political Declaration (cf. Para 7 of the Political Declaration on Freedom of Expression and Democracy in the Digital Age) which we consider provides a more neutral and objective basis for the Council of Europe's work in this area. The UK does not consider the language of paragraph 13(v) to have any influence on positions that the UK may take on this issue, both in the Council of Europe and in other fora."

The paragraph suggested by Britain, which is included in the seventh paragraph of the declaration, says: "Data can be collected and processed for a legitimate aim including the objectives set out in the Council of Europe's Statute. Any data collection or surveillance for the purpose of protection of national security must be done in compliance with existing human rights and rule of law requirements, including Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Given the growing technological capabilities for electronic mass surveillance and the resulting concerns, we emphasise that there must be adequate and effective guarantees against abuse which may undermine or even destroy democracy."

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, criticised Britain's tactics last week. She said: "Bad enough that our authorities engaged in blanket surveillance without democratic mandate or legal authority; worse still when they attacked the ethical journalists who exposed that scandal. Now they delay the Council of Europe's action on the issue and risk turning Britain into an arrogant bad boy on the world stage."