Legal Research

ECJ rejects challenge to data retention directive

By scott

The European Court of Justice has dismissed Ireland’s challenge of the legal basis for the data retention directive (2006/24/EC). Ireland was arguing that the European Commission did not have the power to adopt 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.

The ECJ concluded that the legal basis for the directive was correct because whilst the directive is connected to policing it does not actually cover policing functions, but instead covers the activities of service providers in the internal market.

The ECJ has essentially followed the advice of Advocate General (AG) Bot who had recommended that the European Court of Justice dismiss the appeal stating that the obligation to retain data for investigations of 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 February 11, 2009 (boomark / email).