On Friday 7 July, EU ministers for justice and the interior held an informal meeting in Tallinn. This meeting involved further discussions on the consequences of the different European Court of Justice decisions on data retention. On a number of occasions, the Court has invalidated European telephone data retention mechanisms in which the member states have requested operators to maintain in the context of their investigations into tackling terrorism or serious crime.
One source said that a high level of consensus characterised these discussions and that there was agreement that work should be stepped up on the practical options for carrying out data retention. The Commission was also requested to put forward proposals in this regard.
This same source said that all options were being considered and that the member states were not necessarily calling for another directive (the former 2006 directive on data retention was invalidated by the Court in 2014), even though the Commission had been asked to look at this possibility. They would like, above all, European options that enabled data retention practices to be carried out within a framework decided by the European Court of Justice. According to many member states, the current framework has created a very complex situation for law and order services in the member states. Urmas Reinsalu, the Estonian minister for Justice explained during the final press conference that “We need a European solution that is compatible with the Court”.
During this discussion, ministers also tackled the difficulty of working on this subject, given the fact that the legal framework could still further evolve. The general conclusions on the PNR EU/Canada agreement will be published at the end of July and they could have an impact on the data retention dossier, explained one source, who also highlighted some of the concerns expressed by ministers. The same source added that the idea is to reach “a European solution that everyone can apply”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)