| Author (Corporate) | European Court of Justice: Press and Information Division |
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| Series Title | Press Release |
| Series Details | No.145, 2016 (21.12.16) |
| Publication Date | 21/12/2016 |
| Content Type | News |
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In a judgement made by the European Court of Justice on the 21 December 2016 the Court ruled that the EU Member States may not impose a general obligation to retain data on providers of electronic communications services. 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, provided that such retention is, with respect to the categories of data to be retained, the means of communication affected, the persons concerned and the chosen duration of retention, limited to what is strictly necessary. Access of the national authorities to the retained data must be subject to conditions, including prior review by an independent authority and the data being retained within the EU. The ruling came in response to a legal challenge initially brought by the current Brexit secretary, David Davis, when he was a backbench MP, and Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, over the legality of GCHQ’s bulk interception of call records and online messages. The UK government said it was 'disappointed' by the ruling. The case would now return to the UK Court of Appeal. |
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| Source Link | http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2016-12/cp160145en.pdf |
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| Subject Categories | Justice and Home Affairs, Law, Security and Defence, Values and Beliefs |
| Countries / Regions | Europe, Sweden, United Kingdom |
