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The EU's top court has declared "invalid" an EU law requiring telecoms firms to store citizens' communications data for up to two years.
The EU Data Retention Directive was adopted in 2006. The European Court of Justice says it violates two basic rights - respect for private life and protection of personal data.
The EU-wide ruling was prompted by Austrian and Irish complaints.
The 28-nation EU is currently drafting a new data protection law.
The ECJ ruling says the 2006 directive allows storage of data on a person's identity, the time of that person's communication, the place from which the communication took place and the frequency of that person's communications.
"By requiring the retention of those data and by allowing the competent national authorities to access those data, the directive interferes in a particularly serious manner with the fundamental rights to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data," the court in Luxembourg ruled.
The UK government says it is carefully considering the implications of the ruling, the BBC's Chris Morris reports.
Responding to the ruling, a British government spokesman said the retention of communications data was absolutely fundamental to allowing law enforcement authorities to investigate crime and ensure national security.
"We cannot be in a position where service providers are unable to retain this data," the spokesman said.
The directive included insufficient protections to prevent the data from being accessed unlawfully, and did not require that the retained data be stored within the EU, as explicitly required by the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the court added.
The CJEU's ruling is binding for national courts who have to dispose of cases in accordance with the Court's decision.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26935096
so are we IN the EU or OUT when it suits THEM ?
The EU Data Retention Directive was adopted in 2006. The European Court of Justice says it violates two basic rights - respect for private life and protection of personal data.
The EU-wide ruling was prompted by Austrian and Irish complaints.
The 28-nation EU is currently drafting a new data protection law.
The ECJ ruling says the 2006 directive allows storage of data on a person's identity, the time of that person's communication, the place from which the communication took place and the frequency of that person's communications.
"By requiring the retention of those data and by allowing the competent national authorities to access those data, the directive interferes in a particularly serious manner with the fundamental rights to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data," the court in Luxembourg ruled.
The UK government says it is carefully considering the implications of the ruling, the BBC's Chris Morris reports.
Responding to the ruling, a British government spokesman said the retention of communications data was absolutely fundamental to allowing law enforcement authorities to investigate crime and ensure national security.
"We cannot be in a position where service providers are unable to retain this data," the spokesman said.
The directive included insufficient protections to prevent the data from being accessed unlawfully, and did not require that the retained data be stored within the EU, as explicitly required by the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the court added.
The CJEU's ruling is binding for national courts who have to dispose of cases in accordance with the Court's decision.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26935096
so are we IN the EU or OUT when it suits THEM ?
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