Legal Research

AG says that Data Retention Directive not ?3rd pillar? measure

By scott

The good people at Content and Carrier are reporting that Advocate General (AG) Bot has recommended that the European Court of Justice dismiss an appeal by Ireland for the annulment of the data retention directive (2006/24/EC) Ireland challenged the legal base of this Directive arguing that the European Commission did not have the power to make the directive as the matter should have been adopted under the ‘third pillar’ which deals with matters concerning public security and the activities of the State in areas of criminal law. Whilst agreeing that the dividing line between the pillars “may appear artificial in some respects”, the AG concluded that the legal basis for the directive was correct, and that the obligation to retain data for investigations serious crimes was not sufficient to remove the measure from the Community pillar as the directive’s purpose was to harmonise the conditions under which communications providers must retain traffic and location data, not to harmonise the conditions under which the law-enforcement authorities may access, use and exchange that retained data.

Full post as published by Information Overload on October 14, 2008 (boomark / email).