Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2018
In the joint cases of Tele2 Sverige AB v. Post-och telestyrelsen and Secretary of State for the Home Department v. Tom Watson, Peter Brice, and Geoffrey Lewis (the Decision), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held that member states are precluded from adopting legislation that allows a general and indiscriminate retention of all traffic and location data. While targeted retention of data is allowed for the specific objective of fighting serious crime, retention must be proportionate and access to the data must be limited to what is strictly necessary. To ensure that this is achieved, adequate safeguards must be set in place and access to the data must be subject to prior review by a court or independent administrative body.
1 Tele2 Sverige AB v. Post-och telestyrelsen and Secretary of State for the Home Department v. Tom Watson, Peter Brice, Geoffrey Lewis, Joined Cases C-203/15 and C-698/15, 2016, available at http://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?num=C-203/15 [hereinafter Tele2 Sverige Decision].
2 Digital Rights Ireland Ltd. v. Minister for Communications and Others, Joined Cases C-293/12 and C-594/12, available at http://curia.europa.eu/juris/documents.jsf?num=c-293/12 [hereinafter Digital Rights Ireland Decision].
3 Directive 2006/24/EC of 1 March 2006 on the Retention of Data Generated or Processed in Connection with the Provision of Publicly Available Electronic Communications Services or of Public Communications Networks and Amending Directive 2002/58/EC, 2006 O.J. (L 105/54), art. 1, ¶ 1.
4 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, December 7, 2000, 2012 O.J. (C 326/391), arts. 7, 8.
5 Digital Rights Ireland Decision, supra note 2, ¶ 65.
6 Directive 2002/58/EC of 12 July 2002 Concerning the Processing of Personal Data and the Protection of Privacy in the Electronic Communications Sector, 2002 O.J. (L 201/37).
7 Tele2 Sverige Decision, supra note 1, ¶ 81.
8 Id. ¶ 79.
9 Id. ¶ 92.
10 Digital Rights Ireland Decision, supra note 2, ¶ 70.
11 Tele2 Sverige Decision, supra note 1, ¶ 102.
12 Id. ¶ 119.
13 Id. ¶ 120.
14 Id. ¶ 121.
15 Id. ¶ 122.
16 Id. ¶ 100.