On Tuesday 28 March, several European justice ministers expressed concern about the impact on data retention of the Télé2Sverige ruling by the European Court of Justice in December 2016 (see EUROPE 11694).
In the ruling, the European Court of Justice confirmed the Digital Rights Ireland ruling of 8 April 2014 invalidating the EU directive on the retention of telephone and internet information by operators for anti-terror purposes (see EUROPE 11056). The court says EU legislation opposes generalised and undifferentiated retention of data on traffic and location, even though the member states may provide for, as a preventative measure under certain conditions, the targeted retention of such data to combat serious crime.
On Tuesday, Luxembourg indicated that one should not remain for long in the legal limbo generated by the fact that in 2014 the member states adopted new legislation and that the European Commission has decided not to replace the invalidated directive.
Austria made it known that it was considering adjusting its legislation again following the December 2016 court ruling. A new law would allow the retention of data solely to be used for investigations.
On Friday 24 March, a diplomatic source said that the December ruling raised issues for many member states and affected all the member states, hence the importance of having an exchange of views and to find out whether, for example, a targeting of the collected data is required and if so, in what way. A group of experts will be set up shortly to assess the ruling’s impact.
The European Commission will work on guidelines to help the member states get a clearer view, but a source says it recognises that its hands are tied by the court’s ruling. The Commission admits, however, that the ruling raises serious difficulties for the member states’ police and justice departments. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)