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The Data Retention Directive (Directive 2006/24/EC), a directive, later declared invalid by the European Court of Justice, was at first passed on 15 March 2006 and regulated
data retention Data retention defines the policies of persistent data and records management for meeting legal and business data archival requirements. Although sometimes interchangeable, it is not to be confused with the Data Protection Act 1998. The differen ...
, where data has been generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks. It amended the
Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive 2002/58/EC on Privacy and Electronic Communications, otherwise known as ePrivacy Directive (ePD), is an EU directive on data protection and privacy in the digital age. It presents a continuation o ...
. According to the Data Retention Directive,
EU member states The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
had to store information on all citizens' telecommunications data (phone and internet connections) for a minimum of six months and at most twenty-four months, to be delivered on demand to police authorities. Under the directive, the police and security agencies would have been able to request access to details such as
IP addresses An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...
and time of use of every
email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
, phone call and text message sent or received. There was no provision in the directive that permission to access the data must be confirmed by a court. On 8 April 2014, the
Court of Justice of the European Union The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) (french: Cour de justice de l'Union européenne or "''CJUE''"; Latin: Curia) is the Judiciary, judicial branch of the European Union (EU). Seated in the Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Kirchberg quart ...
declared the Directive invalid in response to a case brought by
Digital Rights Ireland Digital Rights Ireland is a digital rights advocacy and lobbying group based in Ireland. The group works for civil liberties in a digital age. Telecommunications data retention In 2012, the group brought an action before the Irish High Court, w ...
against the Irish authorities and others because blanket data collection violated the
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union (EU) citizens and residents into EU law. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly proclaim ...
, in particular the right of
privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...
enshrined in Article 8(1).


History

In September 2005, during the United Kingdom's presidency of the European Council, a plenary session was held concerning the retention of
telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
data, chaired by the UK's
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
. This led to an agreement reached by the Council at its meeting on the 1 and 2 December that was then adopted in March 2006, under the Austrian presidency.


Implementation


Romania

The EU directive has been transposed into Romanian law as well, initially as Law 298/2008. However, the
Constitutional Court of Romania The Constitutional Court of Romania ( ro, Curtea Constituțională a României) is the institution which rules on whether the laws, decrees or other bills enacted by Romanian authorities are in conformity with the Constitution of Romania, Constitu ...
(CCR) subsequently struck down the law in 2009 as violating constitutional rights. The court held that the transposing act violated the constitutional rights of privacy, of confidentiality in communications, and of free speech. The
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
subsequently sued Romania in 2011 for non-implementation, threatening Romania with a fine of 30,000 euros per day. The Romanian parliament passed a new law in 2012, which was signed by president
Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservatism, conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions ...
in June. The Law 82/2012 has been nicknamed "the Big Brother law" (using the untranslated English expression) by various Romanian non-governmental organisations opposing it, as well as the Romanian media. On 8 July 2014 this law too was declared unconstitutional by the CCR.


Criticism

The Data Retention Directive had sparked serious concerns from physicians, journalists, privacy and human rights groups, unions, IT security firms and legal experts.


Annullment

On 8 April 2014, in the landmark ''Digital Rights Ireland and Ors'' case, the Court of Justice of the European Union declared the Directive 2006/24/EC invalid for violating fundamental rights. The Council's Legal Services have been reported to have stated in closed session that paragraph 59 of the European Court of Justice's ruling "suggests that general and blanket data retention is no longer possible". A legal opinion funded by the
Greens–European Free Alliance The Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) is a political group of the European Parliament composed primarily of green and regionalist political parties. Formed following the 1999 European elections for the 5th European Parliament, th ...
in the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
found that the blanket retention of data of unsuspicious persons generally violates the
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union (EU) citizens and residents into EU law. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly proclaim ...
, both in regard to national telecommunications data retention laws and to similar EU data retention schemes (
Passenger name record A passenger name record (PNR) is a record in the database of a computer reservation system (CRS) that contains the itinerary for a passenger or a group of passengers travelling together. The concept of a PNR was first introduced by airlines that n ...
s, Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme, Terrorist Finance Tracking System, law enforcement access to the
Entry-Exit-System The Entry/Exit System (EES) is a large-scale IT system of the European Union for the automatic monitoring of the border-crossing of third-country nationals (non-EU/ EEA/Swiss citizens). Envisioned to replace passport stamps, the system will be ins ...
,
Eurodac European Dactyloscopy (Eurodac) is the European Union (EU) fingerprint database for identifying asylum seekers and irregular border-crossers. After the European Parliament approved the last EURODAC reform poposed by far-right party Vox (December 2 ...
,
Visa Information System The European Union Visa Information System (VIS) is a database containing information, including biometrics, on visa applications by Third Country Nationals requiring a visa to enter the Schengen area. The system was established in June 2004 by t ...
).Boehm/Cole
Data Retention after the Judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union
.


See also

*
Data Protection Directive The Data Protection Directive, officially Directive 95/46/EC, enacted in October 1995, is a European Union directive which regulates the processing of personal data within the European Union (EU) and the free movement of such data. The Data Pr ...
*
Telecommunications data retention Data retention defines the policies of persistent data and records management for meeting legal and business data archival requirements. Although sometimes interchangeable, it is not to be confused with the Data Protection Act 1998. The different ...


References


External links


Text of the directive and national provisions on data retention communicated by the member states
(HTML and PDF) {{Authority control European Union data protection law European Union directives 2006 in law 2006 in the European Union