The European Court of Justice has ruled against the requirement to keep users' data in telecommunications by declaring the relevant EU directive invalid
"The court has annulled the Data Retention Directive [1]," the court said in a statement.
[1] 2006 / 24 / EC DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15 March 2006 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ%3AL%3A2006%3A105%3A0054%3A0063%3AEL%3APDF
The Data Retention Directive was introduced in March of 2006, following the bombing attacks on public transport in Madrid and London. The aim was to give the authorities better tools to investigate and prosecute organized crime and terrorism.
It required telecommunications service providers to retain movement and location data (and metadata) and other information needed to identify the user, but not the content of calls. Records were to be kept for six to 24 months.
An Austrian and an Irish court asked the Court of Justice of the European Communities to rule on whether the law was in line with the Charter of Fundamental Rights Europeanof the Union. The law caused a public outcry in Germany as well.
The reasoning of the Court was that although the Directive and the legislator aim to best deal with serious crimes (organized crime and terrorism), however, you do not securely and in a controlled manner protect the privacy and personal data of the individual, in accordance with the checks of fundamental rights.
The court explains, in three paragraphs, those points which it considered needing a review and better clarification from that directive. It concludes that the Directive is deficient in its clarity and the existence of a mechanism of protection and strict control.
"The Court considers that, by requiring the retention of this data and allowing the competent national authorities access to this data, the Directive interferes very seriously with excercise of the fundamental rights of respect for private life and the protection of personal data. In addition, the fact that the retention and subsequent use of the data takes place without the subscriber or registered user being aware of it may cause the persons concerned to feel that their private life is constantly being monitored."
"Furthermore, the retention of data with a view to its possible transmission to the national competent authorities is in fact in line with an objective of general interest, namely the
the fight against serious crime and, ultimately, public security.
However, the Court considers that, in adopting the Data Retention Directive, the Union legislature has exceeded the limits imposed by the principle of proportionality.
Read the court's decision in Greek:
Court of Justice of the European Union
PRESS RELEASE No. 54 / 14
Luxembourg, 8 April 2014
Judgment in Joined Cases C-293 / 12 and C-594 / 12
Digital Rights Ireland and Seitlinger and Others.
The Court of Justice has declared the Data Retention Directive invalid
This directive entails a very extensive and particularly serious intervention in the exercise of the fundamental rights to respect for privacy and the protection of personal data without such intervention being limited to what is strictly necessary;
[PDF file, 3 p.] http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2014-04/cp140054el.pdf
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From: REUTERS, “EU court rules against requirement to keep data of telecom users”, BRUSSELS Tue Apr 8, 2014 4:28 am EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/08/us-eu-data-ruling-idUSBREA370F020140408
(Reportage by Jan Strupczewski, edited by Philip Blenkinsop, Larry King)
Image: An illustration picture shows a network cable next to a pack of smartphones in Berlin, June 7, 2013.
CREDIT: REUTERS / PAWEL KOPCZYNSKI
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