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[ "para_322" ] }, { "title": "101", "paragraphs": [ "para_324", "para_325", "para_326", "para_327", "para_328", "para_329", "para_330", "para_331", "para_332", "para_333" ] }, { "title": "The third question", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "102", "paragraphs": [ "para_336" ] }, { "title": "103", "paragraphs": [ "para_338" ] }, { "title": "104", "paragraphs": [ "para_340" ] }, { "title": "105", "paragraphs": [ "para_342" ] }, { "title": "106", "paragraphs": [ "para_344" ] }, { "title": "107", "paragraphs": [ "para_346" ] }, { "title": "108", "paragraphs": [ "para_348" ] }, { "title": "109", "paragraphs": [ "para_350" ] }, { "title": "110", "paragraphs": [ "para_352" ] }, { "title": "111", "paragraphs": [ "para_354" ] }, { "title": "112", "paragraphs": [ "para_356" ] }, { "title": "113", "paragraphs": [ "para_358" ] }, { "title": "114", "paragraphs": [ "para_360" ] }, { "title": "The fifth and sixth questions", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "115", "paragraphs": [ "para_363" ] }, { "title": "116", "paragraphs": [ "para_365" ] }, { "title": "117", "paragraphs": [ "para_367" ] }, { "title": "118", "paragraphs": [ "para_369" ] }, { "title": "119", "paragraphs": [ "para_371" ] }, { "title": "120", "paragraphs": [ "para_373" ] }, { "title": "121", "paragraphs": [ "para_375" ] }, { "title": "122", "paragraphs": [ "para_377" ] }, { "title": "123", "paragraphs": [ "para_379" ] }, { "title": "124", "paragraphs": [ "para_381" ] }, { "title": "125", "paragraphs": [ "para_383" ] }, { "title": "126", "paragraphs": [ "para_385" ] }, { "title": "127", "paragraphs": [ "para_387" ] }, { "title": "128", "paragraphs": [ "para_389" ] }, { "title": "Costs", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "129", "paragraphs": [ "para_392" ] }, { "title": "On those grounds, the Court (Grand Chamber) hereby rules:", "paragraphs": [ "para_394", "para_395", "para_396", "para_397", "para_398", "para_399", "para_400", "para_401", "para_402", "para_403", "para_404", "para_405", "para_406", "para_407", "para_408" ] }, { "title": "Lenaerts", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Arabadjiev", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Prechal", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Rodin", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Jarukaitis", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Jääskinen", "paragraphs": [ "para_415" ] }, { "title": "Safjan", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Biltgen", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Xuereb", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Piçarra", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Rossi", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Kumin", "paragraphs": [ "para_422" ] }, { "title": "A. Calot Escobar", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Registrar", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "K. Lenaerts", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "President", "paragraphs": [ "para_427" ] } ], "paragraphs": [ { "text": "62020CJ0140", "paragraph_id": "para_1" }, { "text": "JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Grand Chamber)", "paragraph_id": "para_2" }, { "text": "5 April 2022 (\n *1\n )", "paragraph_id": "para_3" }, { "text": "(Reference for a preliminary ruling – Processing of personal data in the electronic communications sector – Confidentiality of the communications – Providers of electronic communications services – General and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data – Access to retained data – Subseque …", "paragraph_id": "para_4" }, { "text": "In Case C‑140/20,", "paragraph_id": "para_5" }, { "text": "REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Supreme Court (Ireland), made by decision of 25 March 2020, received at the Court on 4 August 2016, in the proceedings", "paragraph_id": "para_6" }, { "text": "G.D.", "paragraph_id": "para_7" }, { "text": "v", "paragraph_id": "para_8" }, { "text": "Commissioner of An Garda Síochána,", "paragraph_id": "para_9" }, { "text": "Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources,", "paragraph_id": "para_10" }, { "text": "Attorney General,", "paragraph_id": "para_11" }, { "text": "THE COURT (Grand Chamber),", "paragraph_id": "para_12" }, { "text": "composed of K. Lenaerts, President, A. Arabadjiev, A. Prechal, S. Rodin, I. Jarukaitis and N. Jääskinen, Presidents of Chambers, T. von Danwitz (Rapporteur), M. Safjan, F. Biltgen, P.G. Xuereb, N. Piçarra, L.S. Rossi and A. Kumin, Judges,", "paragraph_id": "para_13" }, { "text": "Advocate General: M. Campos Sánchez-Bordona,", "paragraph_id": "para_14" }, { "text": "Registrar: D. Dittert, Head of Unit,", "paragraph_id": "para_15" }, { "text": "having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 13 September 2021,", "paragraph_id": "para_16" }, { "text": "after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:", "paragraph_id": "para_17" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_18" }, { "text": "G.D., by J. Dunphy, Solicitor, R. Kennedy, Senior Counsel, and R. Farrell, Senior Counsel, and K. McCormack, Barrister-at-Law,", "paragraph_id": "para_19" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_20" }, { "text": "the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Attorney General, by M. Browne, S. Purcell, C. Stone and J. Quaney and by A. Joyce, acting as Agents, and by S. Guerin, Senior Counsel, and P. Gallagher, Senior Counsel, D. Fennelly and L. Dwyer, Barristers-at-Law,", "paragraph_id": "para_21" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_22" }, { "text": "the Belgian Government, by P. Cottin and J.‑C. Halleux, acting as Agents, and by J. Vanpraet, advocaat,", "paragraph_id": "para_23" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_24" }, { "text": "the Czech Government, by M. Smolek, O. Serdula and J. Vláčil, acting as Agents,", "paragraph_id": "para_25" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_26" }, { "text": "the Danish Government, initially by J. Nymann-Lindegren, M. Jespersen and M. Wolff, and subsequently by M. Wolff and V. Jørgensen, acting as Agents,", "paragraph_id": "para_27" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_28" }, { "text": "the Estonian Government, by A. Kalbus and M. Kriisa, acting as Agents,", "paragraph_id": "para_29" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_30" }, { "text": "the Spanish Government, by L. Aguilera Ruiz, acting as Agent,", "paragraph_id": "para_31" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_32" }, { "text": "the French Government, by E. de Moustier and A. Daniel and by D. Dubois, T. Stéhelin and J. Illouz, acting as Agents,", "paragraph_id": "para_33" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_34" }, { "text": "the Cypriot Government, by I. Neophytou, acting as Agent,", "paragraph_id": "para_35" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_36" }, { "text": "the Netherlands Government, by C.S. Schillemans, M.K. Bulterman and A. Hanje, acting as Agents,", "paragraph_id": "para_37" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_38" }, { "text": "the Polish Government, by B. Majczyna and J. Sawicka, acting as Agents,", "paragraph_id": "para_39" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_40" }, { "text": "the Portuguese Government, by L. Inez Fernandes and by P. Barros da Costa and I. Oliveira, acting as Agents,", "paragraph_id": "para_41" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_42" }, { "text": "the Finnish Government, by M. Pere and A. Laine, acting as Agents,", "paragraph_id": "para_43" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_44" }, { "text": "the Swedish Government, by O. Simonsson and J. Lundberg and by H. Shev, C. Meyer-Seitz, A. Runeskjöld, M. Salborn Hodgson, R. Shahsavan Eriksson and H. Eklinder, acting as Agents,", "paragraph_id": "para_45" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_46" }, { "text": "the European Commission, by S.L. Kalėda, H. Kranenborg, M. Wasmeier and F. Wilman, acting as Agents,", "paragraph_id": "para_47" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_48" }, { "text": "the European Data Protection Supervisor, by D. Nardi, N. Stolič and K. Ujazdowski and by A. Buchta, acting as Agents,", "paragraph_id": "para_49" }, { "text": "after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 18 November 2021,", "paragraph_id": "para_50" }, { "text": "gives the following", "paragraph_id": "para_51" }, { "text": "Judgment", "paragraph_id": "para_52" }, { "text": "1", "paragraph_id": "para_53" }, { "text": "This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on priv …", "paragraph_id": "para_54" }, { "text": "2", "paragraph_id": "para_55" }, { "text": "The request has been made in proceedings between G.D. and the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána (Commissioner of the national police force, Ireland), the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (Ireland) and the Attorney General, concerning the validity of the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’).", "paragraph_id": "para_56" }, { "text": "Legal context", "paragraph_id": "para_57" }, { "text": "European Union law", "paragraph_id": "para_58" }, { "text": "3", "paragraph_id": "para_59" }, { "text": "Recitals 2, 6, 7 and 11 of Directive 2002/58 state:", "paragraph_id": "para_60" }, { "text": "‘(2)", "paragraph_id": "para_61" }, { "text": "This Directive seeks to respect the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by [the Charter]. In particular, this Directive seeks to ensure full respect for the rights set out in Articles 7 and 8 of [the Charter].", "paragraph_id": "para_62" }, { "text": "…", "paragraph_id": "para_63" }, { "text": "(6)", "paragraph_id": "para_64" }, { "text": "The Internet is overturning traditional market structures by providing a common, global infrastructure for the delivery of a wide range of electronic communications services. Publicly available electronic communications services over the Internet open new possibilities for users but also new risks for their personal data and privacy.", "paragraph_id": "para_65" }, { "text": "(7)", "paragraph_id": "para_66" }, { "text": "In the case of public communications networks, specific legal, regulatory and technical provisions should be made in order to protect fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons and legitimate interests of legal persons, in particular with regard to the increasing capacity for automated storage and processing of data relating to subscribers and users.", "paragraph_id": "para_67" }, { "text": "…", "paragraph_id": "para_68" }, { "text": "(11)", "paragraph_id": "para_69" }, { "text": "Like Directive 95/46/EC [of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data ( OJ 1995 L 281, p. 31 )], this Directive does not address issues of protection of fundament …", "paragraph_id": "para_70" }, { "text": "4", "paragraph_id": "para_71" }, { "text": "Article 1 of Directive 2002/58, headed ‘Scope and aim’, provides:", "paragraph_id": "para_72" }, { "text": "‘1.   This Directive provides for the harmonisation of the national provisions required to ensure an equivalent level of protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, and in particular the right to privacy and confidentiality, with respect to the processing of personal data in the electronic communication sector and to ensure the free movement of such data and of electronic communication equipment and services in the [European Union].", "paragraph_id": "para_73" }, { "text": "2.   The provisions of this Directive particularise and complement Directive [95/46] for the purposes mentioned in paragraph 1. Moreover, they provide for protection of the legitimate interests of subscribers who are legal persons.", "paragraph_id": "para_74" }, { "text": "3.   This Directive shall not apply to activities which fall outside the scope of [the TFEU], such as those covered by Titles V and VI of the Treaty on European Union, and in any case to activities concerning public security, defence, State security (including the economic well-being of the State when the activities relate to State security matters) and the activities of the State in areas of criminal law.’", "paragraph_id": "para_75" }, { "text": "5", "paragraph_id": "para_76" }, { "text": "Article 2 of Directive 2002/58, headed ‘Definitions’, provides:", "paragraph_id": "para_77" }, { "text": "‘Save as otherwise provided, the definitions in Directive [95/46] and in Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services (Framework Directive) [( OJ 2002 L 108, p. 33 )] shall apply.", "paragraph_id": "para_78" }, { "text": "The following definitions shall also apply:", "paragraph_id": "para_79" }, { "text": "(a)", "paragraph_id": "para_80" }, { "text": "“user” means any natural person using a publicly available electronic communications service, for private or business purposes, without necessarily having subscribed to this service;", "paragraph_id": "para_81" }, { "text": "(b)", "paragraph_id": "para_82" }, { "text": "“traffic data” means any data processed for the purpose of the conveyance of a communication on an electronic communications network or for the billing thereof;", "paragraph_id": "para_83" }, { "text": "(c)", "paragraph_id": "para_84" }, { "text": "“location data” means any data processed in an electronic communications network or by an electronic communications service, indicating the geographic position of the terminal equipment of a user of a publicly available electronic communications service;", "paragraph_id": "para_85" }, { "text": "(d)", "paragraph_id": "para_86" }, { "text": "“communication” means any information exchanged or conveyed between a finite number of parties by means of a publicly available electronic communications service. This does not include any information conveyed as part of a broadcasting service to the public over an electronic communications network except to the extent that the information can be related to the identifiable subscriber or user receiving the information;", "paragraph_id": "para_87" }, { "text": "…’", "paragraph_id": "para_88" }, { "text": "6", "paragraph_id": "para_89" }, { "text": "Article 3 of Directive 2002/58, headed ‘Services concerned’, provides:", "paragraph_id": "para_90" }, { "text": "‘This Directive shall apply to the processing of personal data in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services in public communications networks in the [European Union], including public communications networks supporting data collection and identification devices.’", "paragraph_id": "para_91" }, { "text": "7", "paragraph_id": "para_92" }, { "text": "Article 5 of the directive, headed ‘Confidentiality of the communications’, provides:", "paragraph_id": "para_93" }, { "text": "‘1.   Member States shall ensure the confidentiality of communications and the related traffic data by means of a public communications network and publicly available electronic communications services, through national legislation. In particular, they shall prohibit listening, tapping, storage or o …", "paragraph_id": "para_94" }, { "text": "…", "paragraph_id": "para_95" }, { "text": "3.   Member States shall ensure that the storing of information, or the gaining of access to information already stored, in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user is only allowed on condition that the subscriber or user concerned has given his or her consent, having been provided with clear …", "paragraph_id": "para_96" }, { "text": "8", "paragraph_id": "para_97" }, { "text": "Article 6 of Directive 2002/58, entitled ‘Traffic data’, provides:", "paragraph_id": "para_98" }, { "text": "‘1.   Traffic data relating to subscribers and users processed and stored by the provider of a public communications network or publicly available electronic communications service must be erased or made anonymous when it is no longer needed for the purpose of the transmission of a communication without prejudice to paragraphs 2, 3 and 5 of this Article and Article 15(1).", "paragraph_id": "para_99" }, { "text": "2.   Traffic data necessary for the purposes of subscriber billing and interconnection payments may be processed. Such processing is permissible only up to the end of the period during which the bill may lawfully be challenged or payment pursued.", "paragraph_id": "para_100" }, { "text": "3.   For the purpose of marketing electronic communications services or for the provision of value added services, the provider of a publicly available electronic communications service may process the data referred to in paragraph 1 to the extent and for the duration necessary for such services or …", "paragraph_id": "para_101" }, { "text": "…", "paragraph_id": "para_102" }, { "text": "5.   Processing of traffic data, in accordance with paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4, must be restricted to persons acting under the authority of providers of the public communications networks and publicly available electronic communications services handling billing or traffic management, customer enquiri …", "paragraph_id": "para_103" }, { "text": "…’", "paragraph_id": "para_104" }, { "text": "9", "paragraph_id": "para_105" }, { "text": "Article 9 of that directive, entitled ‘Location data other than traffic data’, provides, in paragraph 1 thereof:", "paragraph_id": "para_106" }, { "text": "‘Where location data other than traffic data, relating to users or subscribers of public communications networks or publicly available electronic communications services, can be processed, such data may only be processed when they are made anonymous, or with the consent of the users or subscribers t …", "paragraph_id": "para_107" }, { "text": "10", "paragraph_id": "para_108" }, { "text": "Article 15 of Directive 2002/58, entitled ‘Application of certain provisions of Directive [95/46]’, provides, in paragraph 1 thereof:", "paragraph_id": "para_109" }, { "text": "‘Member States may adopt legislative measures to restrict the scope of the rights and obligations provided for in Article 5, Article 6, Article 8(1), (2), (3) and (4), and Article 9 of this Directive when such restriction constitutes a necessary, appropriate and proportionate measure within a democr …", "paragraph_id": "para_110" }, { "text": "Irish law", "paragraph_id": "para_111" }, { "text": "11", "paragraph_id": "para_112" }, { "text": "As stated in the order for reference, the 2011 Act was adopted in order to transpose into the Irish legal order Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 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 ( OJ 2006 L 105, p. 54 ).", "paragraph_id": "para_113" }, { "text": "12", "paragraph_id": "para_114" }, { "text": "Section 1 of the 2011 Act defines ‘data’ as ‘traffic data or location data and the related data necessary to identify the subscriber or user’ and a ‘serious offence’ as one which is punishable by imprisonment for a term of five years or more and also those other offences listed in Schedule 1 to that act.", "paragraph_id": "para_115" }, { "text": "13", "paragraph_id": "para_116" }, { "text": "Section 3(1) of the 2011 Act requires all providers of electronic communications services to retain the data referred to in Schedule 2, Part 1, for a period of two years and the data referred to in Schedule 2, Part 2, for a period of one year.", "paragraph_id": "para_117" }, { "text": "14", "paragraph_id": "para_118" }, { "text": "Schedule 2, Part 1, to the 2011 Act applies, inter alia, to fixed network telephony data and mobile telephony data that permit the identification of the source, the destination, and the date and time of the start and end of a communication, the type of communication involved, the type of location an …", "paragraph_id": "para_119" }, { "text": "15", "paragraph_id": "para_120" }, { "text": "Schedule 2, Part 2, to the 2011 Act covers data relating to internet access, internet email and internet telephony and includes, inter alia, the user identification number (‘user ID’) and telephone number, the Internet Protocol (IP) address and the date, time and duration of a communication. The content of communications does not fall within this type of data.", "paragraph_id": "para_121" }, { "text": "16", "paragraph_id": "para_122" }, { "text": "Under sections 4 and 5 of the 2011 Act, service providers must take specified measures to ensure that data are protected against unauthorised access.", "paragraph_id": "para_123" }, { "text": "17", "paragraph_id": "para_124" }, { "text": "Section 6 of the 2011 Act, which lays down the conditions under which a disclosure request may be made, provides in paragraph 1:", "paragraph_id": "para_125" }, { "text": "‘A member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of chief superintendent may request a service provider to disclose to that member data retained by the service provider in accordance with section 3 where that member is satisfied that the data are required for—", "paragraph_id": "para_126" }, { "text": "(a)", "paragraph_id": "para_127" }, { "text": "the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of a serious offence,", "paragraph_id": "para_128" }, { "text": "(b)", "paragraph_id": "para_129" }, { "text": "the safeguarding of the security of the State,", "paragraph_id": "para_130" }, { "text": "(c)", "paragraph_id": "para_131" }, { "text": "the saving of human life.’", "paragraph_id": "para_132" }, { "text": "18", "paragraph_id": "para_133" }, { "text": "Section 7 of the 2011 Act requires service providers to comply with disclosure requests referred to in section 6 thereof.", "paragraph_id": "para_134" }, { "text": "19", "paragraph_id": "para_135" }, { "text": "For the purpose of reviewing the decision of the member of the Garda Síochána referred to in section 6 of the 2011 Act, a complaint procedure is provided for in section 10 thereof and a procedure before the designated judge, within the meaning of section 12 thereof, who is responsible for examining the application of the provisions of that act.", "paragraph_id": "para_136" }, { "text": "The dispute in the main proceedings and the questions referred for a preliminary ruling", "paragraph_id": "para_137" }, { "text": "20", "paragraph_id": "para_138" }, { "text": "In March 2015, G.D. was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a person who disappeared in August 2012 and whose remains were not discovered until September 2013. In the appeal against his conviction, G.D. criticised the first-instance court in particular for having incorrectly admitted as …", "paragraph_id": "para_139" }, { "text": "21", "paragraph_id": "para_140" }, { "text": "In order to be able to contest, as part of the criminal proceedings, the admissibility of that evidence, G.D. brought civil proceedings before the High Court (Ireland) seeking a declaration that some of the provisions of the 2011 Act are invalid. By decision of 6 December 2018, that court upheld G.D …", "paragraph_id": "para_141" }, { "text": "22", "paragraph_id": "para_142" }, { "text": "The criminal proceedings pending before the Court of Appeal (Ireland) were stayed until the delivery of the referring court’s decision in the main civil proceedings.", "paragraph_id": "para_143" }, { "text": "23", "paragraph_id": "para_144" }, { "text": "Before the referring court, Ireland submitted that, in order to determine whether interference with the right to private life enshrined in Article 7 of the Charter as a result of the retention of traffic and location data under the 2011 Act is proportionate, it is necessary to examine the objectives …", "paragraph_id": "para_145" }, { "text": "24", "paragraph_id": "para_146" }, { "text": "For his part, G.D. submits that the system of general and indiscriminate retention of data established by the 2011 Act and the regime for access to those data provided for by that law are incompatible with EU law as interpreted, in particular, by the Court in paragraph 120 of the judgment of 21 December 2016, Tele2 Sverige and Watson and Others ( C‑203/15 and C‑698/15 , EU:C:2016:970 ).", "paragraph_id": "para_147" }, { "text": "25", "paragraph_id": "para_148" }, { "text": "The referring court states, as a preliminary matter, that it is for it to determine only whether the High Court was correct in law to hold that section 6(1)(a) of the 2011 Act was incompatible with EU law and that, by contrast, the question of the admissibility of the evidence submitted in the context of the criminal proceedings falls within jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal which is seised of the appeal brought against the conviction.", "paragraph_id": "para_149" }, { "text": "26", "paragraph_id": "para_150" }, { "text": "In that context, the referring court has doubts, first of all, as to the requirements of EU law as regards the retention of data for the purposes of combating serious crime. In that regard, it considers, in essence, that only the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data allo …", "paragraph_id": "para_151" }, { "text": "27", "paragraph_id": "para_152" }, { "text": "As regards, next, access to data retained by providers of electronic communications services, the referring court explains that the national police force established, within its organisation, a system of self-certification of requests addressed to those service providers. Thus, it is clear from the …", "paragraph_id": "para_153" }, { "text": "28", "paragraph_id": "para_154" }, { "text": "The referring court adds that, during the period concerned by the criminal investigation brought against G.D., all the requests for access were required to be approved in the first place by a superintendent or inspector acting in that capacity, before they were sent to the TLU to be processed, and t …", "paragraph_id": "para_155" }, { "text": "29", "paragraph_id": "para_156" }, { "text": "Finally, the referring court is uncertain as to the scope and temporal effects of a possible declaration of incompatibility of the 2011 Act with EU law. In that regard, it states that such a declaration could only be applied prospectively on the ground the data used as evidence in the criminal proce …", "paragraph_id": "para_157" }, { "text": "30", "paragraph_id": "para_158" }, { "text": "It was in those circumstances that the Supreme Court decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling:", "paragraph_id": "para_159" }, { "text": "‘(1)", "paragraph_id": "para_160" }, { "text": "Is a general/universal data retention regime – even subject to stringent restrictions on retention and access – per se contrary to the provisions of Article 15 of Directive [2002/58], interpreted in the light of the Charter?", "paragraph_id": "para_161" }, { "text": "(2)", "paragraph_id": "para_162" }, { "text": "In considering whether to grant a declaration of inconsistency of a national measure implemented pursuant to Directive [2006/24], and making provision for a general data retention regime (subject to the necessary stringent controls on retention and/or in relation to access), and in particular in ass …", "paragraph_id": "para_163" }, { "text": "(3)", "paragraph_id": "para_164" }, { "text": "In assessing, in the context of determining the compatibility with [EU] law and in particular with Charter Rights of a national measure for access to retained data, what criteria should a national court apply in considering whether any such access regime provides the required independent prior scrut …", "paragraph_id": "para_165" }, { "text": "(4)", "paragraph_id": "para_166" }, { "text": "In any event, is a national court obliged to declare the inconsistency of a national measure with the provisions of Article 15 of [Directive 2002/58], if the national measure makes provision for a general data retention regime for the purpose of combating serious crime, and where the national court has concluded, on all the evidence available, that such retention is both essential and strictly necessary to the achievement of the objective of combating serious crime?", "paragraph_id": "para_167" }, { "text": "(5)", "paragraph_id": "para_168" }, { "text": "If a national court is obliged to conclude that a national measure is inconsistent with the provisions of Article 15 of Directive [2002/58], as interpreted in the light of the Charter, is it entitled to limit the temporal effect of any such declaration, if satisfied that a failure to do so would lea …", "paragraph_id": "para_169" }, { "text": "(6)", "paragraph_id": "para_170" }, { "text": "May a national court invited to declare the inconsistency of national legislation with Article 15 of [Directive 2002/58], and/or to disapply this legislation, and/or to declare that the application of such legislation had breached the rights of an individual, either in the context of proceedings com …", "paragraph_id": "para_171" }, { "text": "Consideration of the questions referred", "paragraph_id": "para_172" }, { "text": "The first, second and fourth questions", "paragraph_id": "para_173" }, { "text": "31", "paragraph_id": "para_174" }, { "text": "By its first, second and fourth question, which it is appropriate to examine together, the referring court asks, in essence, whether Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, read in the light of Articles 7, 8, 11 and Article 52(1) of the Charter, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation that provides for the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data for the purposes of combating serious crime.", "paragraph_id": "para_175" }, { "text": "32", "paragraph_id": "para_176" }, { "text": "It should be noted, as a preliminary point, that it is settled case-law that, in interpreting a provision of EU law, it is necessary not only to refer to its wording but also to consider its context and the objectives of the legislation of which it forms part, and in particular the origin of that legislation (judgment of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others, C‑511/18, C‑512/18 and C‑520/18 , EU:C:2020:791 , paragraph  105 and the case-law cited).", "paragraph_id": "para_177" }, { "text": "33", "paragraph_id": "para_178" }, { "text": "It is clear from the wording itself of Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58 that the legislative measures that it authorises Member States to take, under the conditions that it lays down, may seek only ‘to restrict the scope’ of the rights and obligations laid down inter alia in Articles 5, 6 and 9 of Directive 2002/58.", "paragraph_id": "para_179" }, { "text": "34", "paragraph_id": "para_180" }, { "text": "As regards the system established by that directive of which Article 15(1) forms part, it must be recalled that, pursuant to the first and second sentences of Article 5(1) of that directive, Member States are required to ensure, through their national legislation, the confidentiality of communicatio …", "paragraph_id": "para_181" }, { "text": "35", "paragraph_id": "para_182" }, { "text": "In that regard, the Court has already held that Article 5(1) of Directive 2002/58 enshrines the principle of confidentiality of both electronic communications and the related traffic data and requires inter alia that, in principle, persons other than users be prohibited from storing, without those users’ consent, those communications and data (judgment of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others, C‑511/18, C‑512/18 and C‑520/18 , EU:C:2020:791 , paragraph  107 ).", "paragraph_id": "para_183" }, { "text": "36", "paragraph_id": "para_184" }, { "text": "That provision reflects the objective pursued by the EU legislature when adopting Directive 2002/58. It is apparent from the Explanatory Memorandum of the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy i …", "paragraph_id": "para_185" }, { "text": "37", "paragraph_id": "para_186" }, { "text": "In adopting Directive 2002/58, the EU legislature gave concrete expression to those rights, so that the users of electronic communications services are entitled to expect, in principle, that their communications and data relating thereto will remain anonymous and may not be recorded, unless they have agreed otherwise (judgment of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others, C‑511/18, C‑512/18 and C‑520/18 , EU:C:2020:791 , paragraph  109 ).", "paragraph_id": "para_187" }, { "text": "38", "paragraph_id": "para_188" }, { "text": "As regards the processing and storage by electronic communications service providers of subscribers’ and users’ traffic data, Article 6 of Directive 2002/58 provides, in paragraph 1, that those data must be erased or made anonymous when they are no longer needed for the purpose of the transmission o …", "paragraph_id": "para_189" }, { "text": "39", "paragraph_id": "para_190" }, { "text": "Therefore, Directive 2002/58 does not merely create a framework for access to such data through safeguards to prevent abuse, but also enshrines, in particular, the principle of the prohibition of their storage by third parties.", "paragraph_id": "para_191" }, { "text": "40", "paragraph_id": "para_192" }, { "text": "In so far as Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58 permits Member States to adopt legislative measures that ‘restrict the scope’ of the rights and obligations laid down inter alia in Articles 5, 6 and 9 of that directive, such as those arising from the principles of confidentiality of communications an …", "paragraph_id": "para_193" }, { "text": "41", "paragraph_id": "para_194" }, { "text": "As regards the objectives that are capable of justifying a limitation of the rights and obligations laid down, in particular, in Articles 5, 6 and 9 of Directive 2002/58, the Court has previously held that the list of objectives set out in the first sentence of Article 15(1) of that directive is exh …", "paragraph_id": "para_195" }, { "text": "42", "paragraph_id": "para_196" }, { "text": "Furthermore, it is clear from the third sentence in Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58 that measures taken by the Member States must comply with the general principles of EU law, which include the principle of proportionality, and ensure respect for the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Charter. …", "paragraph_id": "para_197" }, { "text": "43", "paragraph_id": "para_198" }, { "text": "Thus, the interpretation of Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58 must take account of the importance both of the right to privacy, guaranteed in Article 7 of the Charter, and of the right to protection of personal data, guaranteed in Article 8 thereof, as derived from the case-law of the Court, as wel …", "paragraph_id": "para_199" }, { "text": "44", "paragraph_id": "para_200" }, { "text": "It should be made clear, in that regard, that the retention of traffic and location data constitutes, in itself, first, a derogation from the prohibition laid down in Article 5(1) of Directive 2002/58 barring any person other than the users from storing those data, and, second, an interference with …", "paragraph_id": "para_201" }, { "text": "45", "paragraph_id": "para_202" }, { "text": "That conclusion is all the more justified since traffic and location data may reveal information on a significant number of aspects of the private life of the persons concerned, including sensitive information such as sexual orientation, political opinions, religious, philosophical, societal or othe …", "paragraph_id": "para_203" }, { "text": "46", "paragraph_id": "para_204" }, { "text": "Therefore, first, the retention of traffic and location data for policing purposes is liable, in itself, to infringe the right to respect for communications, enshrined in Article 7 of the Charter, and to deter users of electronic communications systems from exercising their freedom of expression, gu …", "paragraph_id": "para_205" }, { "text": "47", "paragraph_id": "para_206" }, { "text": "In that regard, it must be emphasised that the retention of and access to those data each constitute, as is clear from the case-law recalled in paragraph 44 of this judgment, separate interferences with the fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 7 and 11 of the Charter, requiring a separate justi …", "paragraph_id": "para_207" }, { "text": "48", "paragraph_id": "para_208" }, { "text": "That being said, in so far as Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58 allows Member States to introduce the derogations referred to in paragraph 34 to 37 of this judgment, that provision reflects the fact that the rights enshrined in Articles 7, 8 and 11 of the Charter are not absolute rights, but must b …", "paragraph_id": "para_209" }, { "text": "49", "paragraph_id": "para_210" }, { "text": "Thus as regards, in particular, effective action to combat criminal offences committed against, inter alia, minors and other vulnerable persons, it should be borne in mind that positive obligations of the public authorities may result from Article 7 of the Charter, requiring them to adopt legal meas …", "paragraph_id": "para_211" }, { "text": "50", "paragraph_id": "para_212" }, { "text": "It is against the backdrop of those different positive obligations that the Court must strike a balance between the various interests and rights at issue. The European Court of Human Rights has held that the positive obligations flowing from Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention for the Protec …", "paragraph_id": "para_213" }, { "text": "51", "paragraph_id": "para_214" }, { "text": "In that context, it is clear from the wording itself of the first sentence of Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58 that the Member States may adopt a measure derogating from the principle of confidentiality referred to in paragraph 35 of this judgment where such a measure is ‘necessary, appropriate an …", "paragraph_id": "para_215" }, { "text": "52", "paragraph_id": "para_216" }, { "text": "In that regard, it should be borne in mind that the protection of the fundamental right to privacy requires, according to the settled case-law of the Court, that derogations from and limitations on the protection of personal data must apply only in so far as is strictly necessary. In addition, an ob …", "paragraph_id": "para_217" }, { "text": "53", "paragraph_id": "para_218" }, { "text": "More specifically, it follows from the Court’s case-law that the question whether the Member States may justify a limitation on the rights and obligations laid down, inter alia, in Articles 5, 6 and 9 of Directive 2002/58 must be assessed by measuring the seriousness of the interference entailed by …", "paragraph_id": "para_219" }, { "text": "54", "paragraph_id": "para_220" }, { "text": "In order to satisfy the requirement of proportionality, the national legislation must lay down clear and precise rules governing the scope and application of the measure in question and imposing minimum safeguards, so that the persons whose personal data are affected have sufficient guarantees that …", "paragraph_id": "para_221" }, { "text": "55", "paragraph_id": "para_222" }, { "text": "Thus, national legislation requiring the retention of personal data must always meet objective criteria that establish a connection between the data to be retained and the objective pursued. In particular, as regards combating serious crime, the data whose retention is provided for must be capable o …", "paragraph_id": "para_223" }, { "text": "56", "paragraph_id": "para_224" }, { "text": "As regards the public interest objectives that may justify a measure taken pursuant to Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, it is clear from the Court’s case-law, in particular the judgment of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others ( C‑511/18, C‑512/18 and C‑520/18 , EU:C:2020:791 ), that, i …", "paragraph_id": "para_225" }, { "text": "57", "paragraph_id": "para_226" }, { "text": "In that regard, the Court held that the importance of the objective of safeguarding national security, read in the light of Article 4(2) TEU according to which national security remains the sole responsibility of each Member State, exceeds that of the other objectives referred to in Article 15(1) of …", "paragraph_id": "para_227" }, { "text": "58", "paragraph_id": "para_228" }, { "text": "It is for that reason that the Court held that Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, read in the light of Articles 7, 8, 11 and Article 52(1) of the Charter, does not preclude legislative measures that allow, for the purposes of safeguarding national security, recourse to an instruction requiring prov …", "paragraph_id": "para_229" }, { "text": "59", "paragraph_id": "para_230" }, { "text": "As regards the objective of preventing, investigating, detecting and prosecuting criminal offences, the Court held that, in accordance with the principle of proportionality, only action to combat serious crime and measures to prevent serious threats to public security are capable of justifying serio …", "paragraph_id": "para_231" }, { "text": "60", "paragraph_id": "para_232" }, { "text": "At the hearing, the European Commission submitted that particularly serious crime could be treated in the same way as a threat to national security.", "paragraph_id": "para_233" }, { "text": "61", "paragraph_id": "para_234" }, { "text": "However, the Court has already held that the objective of protecting national security corresponds to the primary interest in protecting the essential functions of the State and the fundamental interests of society through the prevention and punishment of activities capable of seriously destabilisin …", "paragraph_id": "para_235" }, { "text": "62", "paragraph_id": "para_236" }, { "text": "It should also be observed that, unlike crime, even particularly serious crime, a threat to national security must be genuine and present, or, at the very least, foreseeable, which presupposes that sufficiently concrete circumstances have arisen to be able to justify a generalised and indiscriminate …", "paragraph_id": "para_237" }, { "text": "63", "paragraph_id": "para_238" }, { "text": "Thus, criminal behaviour, even of a particularly serious nature, cannot be treated in the same way as a threat to national security. As the Advocate General observed in points 49 to 50 of his Opinion, to treat those situations in the same way would be likely to create an intermediate category between national security and public security for the purpose of applying to the latter the requirements inherent in the former.", "paragraph_id": "para_239" }, { "text": "64", "paragraph_id": "para_240" }, { "text": "It also follows that the fact, recalled in the second question referred for a preliminary ruling, that traffic and location data were legally the object of retention for the purpose of safeguarding national security does not have any bearing on the legality of their retention for the purpose of combating serious crime.", "paragraph_id": "para_241" }, { "text": "65", "paragraph_id": "para_242" }, { "text": "As regards the objective of combating serious crime, the Court held that national legislation providing, for that purpose, for the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data exceeds the limits of what is strictly necessary and cannot be considered to be justified within a demo …", "paragraph_id": "para_243" }, { "text": "66", "paragraph_id": "para_244" }, { "text": "In addition, the Court has emphasised that national legislation providing for the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data covers the electronic communications of practically the entire population without any differentiation, limitation or exception being made in the light o …", "paragraph_id": "para_245" }, { "text": "67", "paragraph_id": "para_246" }, { "text": "However, in paragraph 168 of the judgment of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others ( C‑511/18, C‑512/18 and C‑520/18 , EU:C:2020:791 ), the Court stated that Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, read in the light of Articles 7, 8, 11 and Article 52(1) of the Charter, does not preclude legislative measures that provide, for the purposes of safeguarding national security, combating serious crime and preventing serious threats to public security, for", "paragraph_id": "para_247" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_248" }, { "text": "the targeted retention of traffic and location data which is limited, on the basis of objective and non-discriminatory factors, according to the categories of persons concerned or using a geographical criterion, for a period that is limited in time to what is strictly necessary, but which may be extended;", "paragraph_id": "para_249" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_250" }, { "text": "the general and indiscriminate retention of IP addresses assigned to the source of an internet connection for a period that is limited in time to what is strictly necessary;", "paragraph_id": "para_251" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_252" }, { "text": "the general and indiscriminate retention of data relating to the civil identity of users of electronic communications systems; and", "paragraph_id": "para_253" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_254" }, { "text": "recourse to an instruction requiring providers of electronic communications services, by means of a decision of the competent authority that is subject to effective judicial review, to undertake, for a specified period of time, the expedited retention ( quick freeze ) of traffic and location data in the possession of those service providers,", "paragraph_id": "para_255" }, { "text": "provided that those measures ensure, by means of clear and precise rules, that the retention of data at issue is subject to compliance with the applicable substantive and procedural conditions and that the persons concerned have effective safeguards against the risks of abuse.", "paragraph_id": "para_256" }, { "text": "68", "paragraph_id": "para_257" }, { "text": "In the present order for reference, which was lodged with the Court before the judgments of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others ( C‑511/18, C‑512/18 and C‑520/18 , EU:C:2020:791 ), and of 2 March 2021, Prokuratuur (Conditions of access to data relating to electronic communications) ( C‑7 …", "paragraph_id": "para_258" }, { "text": "69", "paragraph_id": "para_259" }, { "text": "In that regard, it must be observed, in the first place, that the effectiveness of criminal proceedings generally depends not on a single means of investigation but on all the means of investigation available to the competent national authorities for those purposes.", "paragraph_id": "para_260" }, { "text": "70", "paragraph_id": "para_261" }, { "text": "In the second place, it must be noted that Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, read in the light of Articles 7, 8 and 11 and Article 52(1) of the Charter, as interpreted by the case-law recalled in paragraph 67 of this judgment, allows Member States to adopt, for the purposes of combating serious cr …", "paragraph_id": "para_262" }, { "text": "71", "paragraph_id": "para_263" }, { "text": "In that respect, it is common ground that retention of data relating to the civil identity of users of electronic communications systems may contribute to the fight against serious crime to the extent that those data make it possible to identify persons who have used those means in the context of planning or committing an act constituting serious crime.", "paragraph_id": "para_264" }, { "text": "72", "paragraph_id": "para_265" }, { "text": "As is clear from the case-law summarised in paragraph 67 of this judgment, Directive 2002/58 does not preclude, for the purposes of combating crime in general, the general retention of data relating to civil identity. In those circumstances, it must be stated that neither the directive nor any other …", "paragraph_id": "para_266" }, { "text": "73", "paragraph_id": "para_267" }, { "text": "In addition, it should be recalled that the generalised retention of IP addresses of the source of connection constitutes a serious interference in the fundamental rights enshrined in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter as those IP addresses may allow precise conclusions to be drawn concerning the priva …", "paragraph_id": "para_268" }, { "text": "74", "paragraph_id": "para_269" }, { "text": "Hence, the Court held that such general and indiscriminate retention solely of IP addresses assigned to the source of a connection does not, in principle, appear to be contrary to Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, read in the light of Articles 7, 8 and 11 of the Charter, provided that that possibi …", "paragraph_id": "para_270" }, { "text": "75", "paragraph_id": "para_271" }, { "text": "In the third place, as regards legislative measures providing for a targeted retention and an expedited retention of traffic and location data, the indications provided in the order for reference show a narrower understanding of the scope of those measures than that upheld in the case-law recalled i …", "paragraph_id": "para_272" }, { "text": "76", "paragraph_id": "para_273" }, { "text": "As regards, first, targeted retention, the Court held that Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58 does not preclude national legislation based on objective evidence which makes it possible to target persons whose traffic and location data are likely to reveal a link, at least an indirect one, with serio …", "paragraph_id": "para_274" }, { "text": "77", "paragraph_id": "para_275" }, { "text": "The Court stated, in that regard, that, while the objective evidence may vary according to the nature of the measures taken for the purposes of prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of serious crime, the persons thus targeted may, in particular, be persons who have been identified bef …", "paragraph_id": "para_276" }, { "text": "78", "paragraph_id": "para_277" }, { "text": "Member States thus have, inter alia, the option of imposing retention measures targeting persons who, on the basis of an identification, are the subject of an investigation or other measures of current surveillance or of a reference in the national criminal record relating to an earlier conviction f …", "paragraph_id": "para_278" }, { "text": "79", "paragraph_id": "para_279" }, { "text": "Second, a targeted measure for the retention of traffic and location data may, at the choice of the national legislature and in strict compliance with the principle of proportionality, also be set using a geographical criterion where the competent national authorities consider, on the basis of objec …", "paragraph_id": "para_280" }, { "text": "80", "paragraph_id": "para_281" }, { "text": "It should be borne in mind that, according to that case-law, the competent national authorities may adopt, for areas referred to in the preceding paragraph, a targeted measure of retention using a geographic criterion, such as, inter alia, the average crime rate in a geographical area, without that …", "paragraph_id": "para_282" }, { "text": "81", "paragraph_id": "para_283" }, { "text": "In addition and above all, a targeted measure of retention covering places or infrastructures which regularly receive a very high volume of visitors, or strategic places, such as airports, stations, maritime ports or tollbooth areas, allows the competent authorities to collect traffic data and, in p …", "paragraph_id": "para_284" }, { "text": "82", "paragraph_id": "para_285" }, { "text": "It should also be noted that the geographic areas covered by such a targeted retention measure may and, where appropriate, must be amended in accordance with changes in the circumstances that justified their selection, thus making it possible to react to developments in the fight against serious cri …", "paragraph_id": "para_286" }, { "text": "83", "paragraph_id": "para_287" }, { "text": "As regards the possibility of providing distinctive criteria other than a personal or geographic criterion for the targeted retention of traffic and location data, it is possible that other objective and non-discriminatory criteria may be considered in order to ensure that the scope of a targeted re …", "paragraph_id": "para_288" }, { "text": "84", "paragraph_id": "para_289" }, { "text": "In any event, as Advocate General Campos Sánchez-Bordona observed in point 50 of his Opinion in Joined Cases SpaceNet and Telekom Deutschland ( C‑793/19 and C‑794/19 , EU:C:2021:939 ), the fact that it may be difficult to provide a detailed definition of the circumstances and conditions under which targeted retention may be carried out is no reason for the Member States, by turning the exception into a rule, to provide for the general retention of traffic and location data.", "paragraph_id": "para_290" }, { "text": "85", "paragraph_id": "para_291" }, { "text": "As regards, second, the expedited retention of traffic and location data processed and stored by providers of electronic communications services on the basis of Articles 5, 6 and 9 of Directive 2002/58 or on the basis of legislative measures taken under Article 15(1) of that directive, it should be …", "paragraph_id": "para_292" }, { "text": "86", "paragraph_id": "para_293" }, { "text": "In such a situation, in the light of the balance that must be struck between the rights and interests at issue referred to in paragraphs 50 to 53 of this judgment, it is permissible for Member States to provide, in legislation adopted pursuant to Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, for the possibili …", "paragraph_id": "para_294" }, { "text": "87", "paragraph_id": "para_295" }, { "text": "To the extent that the purpose of that expedited retention no longer corresponds to the purpose for which those data were initially collected and retained and since any processing of data must, under Article 8(2) of the Charter, be consistent with specified purposes, Member States must make clear, i …", "paragraph_id": "para_296" }, { "text": "88", "paragraph_id": "para_297" }, { "text": "The Court has stated that a measure of retention of that nature need not be limited to the data of persons who have been identified previously as being a threat to public security or national security of the Member State concerned or of persons specifically suspected of having committed a serious cr …", "paragraph_id": "para_298" }, { "text": "89", "paragraph_id": "para_299" }, { "text": "Thus, a legislative measure may authorise the issuing of an instruction to providers of electronic communications services to carry out the expedited retention of traffic and location data, inter alia, of persons with whom, prior to the serious threat to public security arising or a serious crime being committed, a victim was in contact via those electronic means of communications.", "paragraph_id": "para_300" }, { "text": "90", "paragraph_id": "para_301" }, { "text": "Such expedited retention may, according to the Court’s case-law recalled in paragraph 88 of this judgment and under the same conditions as those referred to in that paragraph, also be extended to specific geographic areas, such as the places of the commission of or preparation for the offence or att …", "paragraph_id": "para_302" }, { "text": "91", "paragraph_id": "para_303" }, { "text": "Furthermore, it must be stated that Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58 does not preclude the competent national authorities from ordering a measure of expedited retention at the first stage of an investigation into a serious threat for public security or a possible serious crime, namely from the time when the authorities may, in accordance with the provisions of national law, commence such an investigation.", "paragraph_id": "para_304" }, { "text": "92", "paragraph_id": "para_305" }, { "text": "As regards the variety of measures for the retention of traffic and location data referred to in paragraph 67 of this judgment, it must be stated that those various measures may, at the choice of the national legislature and subject to the limits of what is strictly necessary, be applied concurrentl …", "paragraph_id": "para_306" }, { "text": "93", "paragraph_id": "para_307" }, { "text": "In the fourth and final place, it must be emphasised that the proportionality of the measures adopted pursuant to Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58 requires, according to the Court’s settled case-law, as recalled in the judgment of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others ( C‑511/18, C‑512/1 …", "paragraph_id": "para_308" }, { "text": "94", "paragraph_id": "para_309" }, { "text": "In that context, it should be recalled that, in paragraph 51 of its judgment of 8 April 2014, Digital Rights Ireland and Others ( C‑293/12 and C‑594/12 , EU:C:2014:238 ), the Court held that while the fight against serious crime is indeed of the utmost importance in order to ensure public security a …", "paragraph_id": "para_310" }, { "text": "95", "paragraph_id": "para_311" }, { "text": "In the same vein, the Court stated, in paragraph 145 of the judgment of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others ( C‑511/18, C‑512/18 and C‑520/18 , EU:C:2020:791 ), that even the positive obligations of the Member States which may arise, depending on the circumstances, from Articles 3, 4 and …", "paragraph_id": "para_312" }, { "text": "96", "paragraph_id": "para_313" }, { "text": "At the hearing, the Danish Government submitted that the competent national authorities should be able to access, for the purpose of fighting serious crime, traffic and location data which have been retained in a general and indiscriminate way, in accordance with the line of case-law resulting from …", "paragraph_id": "para_314" }, { "text": "97", "paragraph_id": "para_315" }, { "text": "It should be observed, first of all, that the fact of authorising access for the purpose of combating serious crime to traffic and location data which have been retained in a general and indiscriminate way would make that access depend upon facts that fall outside that objective, according to whethe …", "paragraph_id": "para_316" }, { "text": "98", "paragraph_id": "para_317" }, { "text": "As the Court has already held, access to traffic and location data retained by providers in accordance with a measure taken under Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, which must be given effect in full compliance with the conditions resulting from the case-law interpreting Directive 2002/58, may, in …", "paragraph_id": "para_318" }, { "text": "99", "paragraph_id": "para_319" }, { "text": "The Danish Government’s submission refers to a situation in which the objective pursued by the access request proposed, namely the fight against serious crime, is of lesser importance in the hierarchy of objectives of public interest than that which justified the retention, namely the safeguarding o …", "paragraph_id": "para_320" }, { "text": "100", "paragraph_id": "para_321" }, { "text": "In addition and moreover, in accordance with the case-law recalled in paragraph 65 of this judgment, traffic and location data cannot be the object of general and indiscriminate retention for the purpose of combating serious crime and, therefore, access to those data cannot be justified for that sam …", "paragraph_id": "para_322" }, { "text": "101", "paragraph_id": "para_323" }, { "text": "In the light of all of the foregoing considerations, the answer to the first, second and fourth questions is that Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, read in the light of Articles 7, 8 and 11 and Article 52(1) of the Charter, must be interpreted as precluding legislative measures which provide, as a …", "paragraph_id": "para_324" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_325" }, { "text": "the targeted retention of traffic and location data which is limited, on the basis of objective and non-discriminatory factors, according to the categories of persons concerned or using a geographical criterion, for a period that is limited in time to what is strictly necessary, but which may be extended;", "paragraph_id": "para_326" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_327" }, { "text": "the general and indiscriminate retention of IP addresses assigned to the source of an internet connection for a period that is limited in time to what is strictly necessary;", "paragraph_id": "para_328" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_329" }, { "text": "the general and indiscriminate retention of data relating to the civil identity of users of electronic communications systems; and", "paragraph_id": "para_330" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_331" }, { "text": "recourse to an instruction requiring providers of electronic communications services, by means of a decision of the competent authority that is subject to effective judicial review, to undertake, for a specified period of time, the expedited retention of traffic and location data in the possession of those service providers,", "paragraph_id": "para_332" }, { "text": "provided that those measures ensure, by means of clear and precise rules, that the retention of data at issue is subject to compliance with the applicable substantive and procedural conditions and that the persons concerned have effective safeguards against the risks of abuse.", "paragraph_id": "para_333" }, { "text": "The third question", "paragraph_id": "para_334" }, { "text": "102", "paragraph_id": "para_335" }, { "text": "By its third question, the referring court asks, in essence, whether, Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, read in the light of Articles 7, 8 and 11 and Article 52(1) of the Charter, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation pursuant to which the centralised processing of requests for ac …", "paragraph_id": "para_336" }, { "text": "103", "paragraph_id": "para_337" }, { "text": "As a preliminary matter, it should be borne in mind that, while it is for national law to determine the conditions under which providers of electronic communications services must grant the competent national authorities access to data in their possession, the national legislation must, in order to …", "paragraph_id": "para_338" }, { "text": "104", "paragraph_id": "para_339" }, { "text": "In particular, national legislation governing the access by the competent authorities to retained traffic and location data, adopted pursuant to Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, cannot be limited to requiring that the authorities’ access to the data be consistent with the objective pursued by tha …", "paragraph_id": "para_340" }, { "text": "105", "paragraph_id": "para_341" }, { "text": "Accordingly, since general access to all retained data, regardless of whether there is any, at least indirect, link with the intended purpose, cannot be regarded as being limited to what is strictly necessary, the national legislation concerned must be based on objective criteria in order to define …", "paragraph_id": "para_342" }, { "text": "106", "paragraph_id": "para_343" }, { "text": "In order to ensure, in practice, that those conditions are fully observed, it is essential that access by the competent national authorities to retained data be subject to a prior review carried out either by a court or by an independent administrative body, and that the decision of that court or bo …", "paragraph_id": "para_344" }, { "text": "107", "paragraph_id": "para_345" }, { "text": "One of the requirements for the prior review is that the court or independent administrative body entrusted with carrying it out must have all the powers and provide all the guarantees necessary in order to reconcile the various interests and rights at issue. As regards a criminal investigation in p …", "paragraph_id": "para_346" }, { "text": "108", "paragraph_id": "para_347" }, { "text": "Where that review is carried out not by a court but by an independent administrative body, that body must have a status that enables it to act objectively and impartially when carrying out its duties and must, for that purpose, be free from any external influence. Accordingly, it follows that the re …", "paragraph_id": "para_348" }, { "text": "109", "paragraph_id": "para_349" }, { "text": "Thus, the Court has, inter alia, found that a public prosecutor’s office, which directs the investigation procedure and, where appropriate, brings the public prosecution cannot be considered to have third party status in relation to the interests at issue, since it has the task not of ruling on a ca …", "paragraph_id": "para_350" }, { "text": "110", "paragraph_id": "para_351" }, { "text": "Finally, the independent review required in accordance with Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58 must take place before any access to the data concerned, except in the event of duly justified urgency, in which case the review must take place within a short time. A subsequent review would not enable th …", "paragraph_id": "para_352" }, { "text": "111", "paragraph_id": "para_353" }, { "text": "In the present case, it is apparent from the order for reference that the 2011 Act assigns to a police officer, whose rank is not below that of chief superintendent, the power to carry out the prior review of requests for access to data issued by the police investigation services and to request the …", "paragraph_id": "para_354" }, { "text": "112", "paragraph_id": "para_355" }, { "text": "Next, while it is true that the 2011 Act provides for mechanisms of review subsequent to the decision of the competent police officer in the form of a complaint procedure and a procedure before a judge responsible for examining the application of the provisions of that act, it is clear from the case …", "paragraph_id": "para_356" }, { "text": "113", "paragraph_id": "para_357" }, { "text": "Finally, the 2011 Act does not lay down any objective criteria which define precisely the conditions and circumstances in which national authorities must be granted access to data and the police officer responsible for processing the requests for access to retained data is solely competent, as Ireland confirmed at the hearing, to assess the suspicions that exist with respect to the persons concerned and the need for access to data that relate to them.", "paragraph_id": "para_358" }, { "text": "114", "paragraph_id": "para_359" }, { "text": "Consequently, the answer to the third question is that Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, read in the light of Articles 7, 8 and 11 and Article 52(1) of the Charter, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation pursuant to which the centralised processing of requests for access to data re …", "paragraph_id": "para_360" }, { "text": "The fifth and sixth questions", "paragraph_id": "para_361" }, { "text": "115", "paragraph_id": "para_362" }, { "text": "By its fifth and sixth questions, which it is appropriate to examine together, the referring courts asks, in essence, whether EU law must be interpreted as meaning that a national court may limit the temporal effects of a declaration of invalidity which it is required to make, under national law, wi …", "paragraph_id": "para_363" }, { "text": "116", "paragraph_id": "para_364" }, { "text": "It is apparent from the information provided by the referring court that the national legislation at issue in the main proceedings, namely the 2011 Act, was adopted in order to transpose into national law Directive 2006/24, which was later declared invalid by the Court in its judgment of 8 April 2014, Digital Rights Ireland and Others ( C‑293/12 and C‑594/12 , EU:C:2014:238 ).", "paragraph_id": "para_365" }, { "text": "117", "paragraph_id": "para_366" }, { "text": "In addition, the referring court states that, while the assessment of the admissibility of the evidence based on data retained pursuant to the 2011 Act and relied on as regards G.D. in the context of the criminal proceedings is a matter for the criminal court, it is nevertheless, in the context of t …", "paragraph_id": "para_367" }, { "text": "118", "paragraph_id": "para_368" }, { "text": "In the first place, it should be recalled that the principle of the primacy of EU law establishes the pre-eminence of EU law over the law of the Member States. That principle therefore requires all Member State bodies to give full effect to the various provisions of EU law, and the law of the Member …", "paragraph_id": "para_369" }, { "text": "119", "paragraph_id": "para_370" }, { "text": "Only the Court may, in exceptional cases, on the basis of overriding considerations of legal certainty, allow the temporary suspension of the ousting effect of a rule of EU law with respect to national law that is contrary thereto. Such a restriction on the temporal effects of the interpretation of …", "paragraph_id": "para_371" }, { "text": "120", "paragraph_id": "para_372" }, { "text": "It is true that the Court has held, in a case concerning the lawfulness of measures adopted in breach of the obligation under EU law to conduct a prior assessment of the impact of a project on the environment and on a protected site, that if domestic law allows it, a national court may, by way of ex …", "paragraph_id": "para_373" }, { "text": "121", "paragraph_id": "para_374" }, { "text": "However, unlike a breach of a procedural obligation such as the prior assessment of the impact of a project in the specific field of environmental protection, a failure to comply with Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, read in the light of Articles 7, 8 and 11 and Article 52(1) of the Charter, cann …", "paragraph_id": "para_375" }, { "text": "122", "paragraph_id": "para_376" }, { "text": "Maintaining the effects of national legislation such as the 2011 Act would mean that the legislation would continue to impose on providers of electronic communications services obligations which are contrary to EU law and which seriously interfere with the fundamental rights of the persons whose data have been retained (see, by analogy, judgment of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others, C‑511/18, C‑512/18 and C‑520/18 , EU:C:2020:791 , paragraph  219 ).", "paragraph_id": "para_377" }, { "text": "123", "paragraph_id": "para_378" }, { "text": "Therefore, the referring court cannot limit the temporal effects of a declaration of invalidity which it is bound to make under national law in respect of the national legislation at issue in the main proceedings (see, by analogy, judgment of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others, C‑511/18, C‑512/18 and C‑520/18 , EU:C:2020:791 , paragraph  220 ).", "paragraph_id": "para_379" }, { "text": "124", "paragraph_id": "para_380" }, { "text": "In that regard, as the Advocate General observed in essence in point 75 of his Opinion, the fact that that legislation was adopted in order to transpose Directive 2006/24 into national law is irrelevant since, due to the Court’s decision that that directive was invalid, the invalidity has effect as …", "paragraph_id": "para_381" }, { "text": "125", "paragraph_id": "para_382" }, { "text": "As regards, more specifically, the interpretation of Directive 2002/58 and the Charter upheld by the Court in its judgments of 21 December 2016, Tele2 Sverige and Watson and Others ( C‑203/15 and C‑698/15 , EU:C:2016:970 ), and of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others ( C‑511/18, C‑512/18 …", "paragraph_id": "para_383" }, { "text": "126", "paragraph_id": "para_384" }, { "text": "In that regard, it should also be stated that a temporal limitation of the effects of the interpretation given was not imposed in the judgments of 21 December 2016, Tele2 Sverige and Watson and Others ( C‑203/15 and C‑698/15 , EU:C:2016:970 ), and of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others ( …", "paragraph_id": "para_385" }, { "text": "127", "paragraph_id": "para_386" }, { "text": "Finally, as regards the effect of a declaration of the potential incompatibility of the 2011 Act with Directive 2002/58, read in the light of the Charter, on the admissibility of evidence relied on against G.D. in the context of the criminal proceedings, it suffices to refer to the Court’s case-law …", "paragraph_id": "para_387" }, { "text": "128", "paragraph_id": "para_388" }, { "text": "Having regard to the foregoing considerations, the answer to the fifth and sixth questions is that EU law must be interpreted as precluding a national court from limiting the temporal effects of a declaration of invalidity which it is bound to make, under national law, with respect to national legis …", "paragraph_id": "para_389" }, { "text": "Costs", "paragraph_id": "para_390" }, { "text": "129", "paragraph_id": "para_391" }, { "text": "Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the action pending before the national court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court. Costs incurred in submitting observations to the Court, other than the costs of those parties, are not recoverable.", "paragraph_id": "para_392" }, { "text": "On those grounds, the Court (Grand Chamber) hereby rules:", "paragraph_id": "para_393" }, { "text": "1.", "paragraph_id": "para_394" }, { "text": "Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications), as amended by Directive 2009/136/ …", "paragraph_id": "para_395" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_396" }, { "text": "the targeted retention of traffic and location data which is limited, on the basis of objective and non-discriminatory factors, according to the categories of persons concerned or using a geographical criterion, for a period that is limited in time to what is strictly necessary, but which may be extended;", "paragraph_id": "para_397" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_398" }, { "text": "the general and indiscriminate retention of IP addresses assigned to the source of an internet connection for a period that is limited in time to what is strictly necessary;", "paragraph_id": "para_399" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_400" }, { "text": "the general and indiscriminate retention of data relating to the civil identity of users of electronic communications systems; and", "paragraph_id": "para_401" }, { "text": "–", "paragraph_id": "para_402" }, { "text": "recourse to an instruction requiring providers of electronic communications services, by means of a decision of the competent authority that is subject to effective judicial review, to undertake, for a specified period of time, the expedited retention of traffic and location data in the possession of those service providers,", "paragraph_id": "para_403" }, { "text": "provided that those measures ensure, by means of clear and precise rules, that the retention of data at issue is subject to compliance with the applicable substantive and procedural conditions and that the persons concerned have effective safeguards against the risks of abuse.", "paragraph_id": "para_404" }, { "text": "2.", "paragraph_id": "para_405" }, { "text": "Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, as amended by Directive 2009/136, read in the light of Articles 7, 8 and 11 and Article 52(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation pursuant to which the centralised processing of requests for access to data, …", "paragraph_id": "para_406" }, { "text": "3.", "paragraph_id": "para_407" }, { "text": "EU law must be interpreted as precluding a national court from limiting the temporal effects of a declaration of invalidity which it is bound to make, under national law, with respect to national legislation imposing on providers of electronic communications services the general and indiscriminate r …", "paragraph_id": "para_408" }, { "text": "Lenaerts", "paragraph_id": "para_409" }, { "text": "Arabadjiev", "paragraph_id": "para_410" }, { "text": "Prechal", "paragraph_id": "para_411" }, { "text": "Rodin", "paragraph_id": "para_412" }, { "text": "Jarukaitis", "paragraph_id": "para_413" }, { "text": "Jääskinen", "paragraph_id": "para_414" }, { "text": "von Danwitz", "paragraph_id": "para_415" }, { "text": "Safjan", "paragraph_id": "para_416" }, { "text": "Biltgen", "paragraph_id": "para_417" }, { "text": "Xuereb", "paragraph_id": "para_418" }, { "text": "Piçarra", "paragraph_id": "para_419" }, { "text": "Rossi", "paragraph_id": "para_420" }, { "text": "Kumin", "paragraph_id": "para_421" }, { "text": "Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 5 April 2022.", "paragraph_id": "para_422" }, { "text": "A. Calot Escobar", "paragraph_id": "para_423" }, { "text": "Registrar", "paragraph_id": "para_424" }, { "text": "K. 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