EU law precludes a general and indiscriminate retention of traffic data and location data, but it is open to Members States to make provision, as a preventive measure, for targeted retention of that data solely for the purpose of fighting serious crime.
This is the general thrust of the decision made on Wednesday 21 December by the Court of Justice of the European Union (joint cases C-203/15 and C-698/15), which defer the conclusions of the Advocate General (see EUROPE 11597).
The judges...