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meAccording to the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ), a complete and general storage of Internet connection and telephone data is not allowed. Exceptions are possible when it comes to the fight against serious crimes or the specific case of a threat to national security, announced the ECJ in a ruling published on Tuesday.
The Luxembourg judges thus strengthened civil rights; at the same time, data preservation advocates can also wait. However, the decision does not yet have a direct effect on German regulations on controversial data retention. A separate procedure is running here.
For years there has been a dispute on the issue in various EU countries between security authorities and politicians, on the one hand, and civil rights activists and consumer advocates, on the other. Advocates argue that to protect national security and fight serious crime, investigators must be able to access stored telecommunications data. On the other hand, critics fear strong interference with fundamental rights if companies have to secure massive amounts of connection data for their customers, without any specific suspicions.
With its decision, the highest European court referred mainly to cases in France, Belgium and Great Britain, in which national courts had requested an evaluation from their colleagues in Luxembourg. But due to its fundamental nature, the current decision of the ECJ could also influence the discussion in Germany on the irritating issue. The question is whether individual EU countries can impose general data storage obligations on operators of electronic communications services.
In June 2017, the German Federal Network Agency temporarily suspended the storage requirement for Internet providers and telephony providers, just days before the planned regulations took effect. The reason at that time was a ruling of the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia, according to which the storage of location and traffic data regardless of suspicion is not compatible with European law.
The highest courts in Germany and the EU have objected several times and overturned the requirements. The ECJ ruled in 2016 that the “indiscriminate” storage of telephone and Internet connection data was not compatible with EU law.
