Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2016:845
Date: 2016-11-09
Language of the case: Dutch
Subject matter: Telecommunications;Data protection
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber), 15 March 2017 1. Approximation of laws — Electronic communications networks and services — Universal service and users’ rights — Directive 2002/22 — Directory enquiry services and directories — Undertakings assigning telephone numbers to subscribers — Obligation to providers of directory enquiry services and directories — Concept of request — Request made by an undertaking established in another Member State for relevant information for the purposes of supplying those services in that Member State or in other Member States — Included (European Parliament and Council Directive 2002/22, Art. 25(2)) 2. Approximation of laws — Electronic communications networks and services — Universal service and users’ rights — Directive 2002/22 — Directory enquiry services and directories — Undertakings assigning telephone numbers to subscribers — Obligation to obtain the consent of subscribers to the use of data relating to them for the purposes of supplying those directory enquiry services — National legislation requiring that the request be made clearly expressing the subscribers’ consent to that use of data depending on the Member State of the provision of the services — Unlawful (European Parliament and Council Directive 2002/22, Art. 25(2)) 1. Article 25(2) of Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users’ rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive), as amended by Directive 2009/136/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009, must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘requests’ in that article, covers also requests made by an undertaking, established in a Member State other than that in which the undertakings which assign telephone numbers to subscribers are established, which requests the relevant information possessed by those undertakings in order to provide publicly available telephone directory enquiry services and directories in that Member State and/or in other Member States. (see para. 30, operative part 1) 2. Article 25(2) of Directive 2002/22, as amended by Directive 2009/136, must be interpreted as precluding an undertaking which assigns telephone numbers to subscribers, and which is obliged under national legislation to request those subscribers’ consent to the use of data relating to them for the purposes of supplying directory enquiry services and directories, from differentiating in the request for those subscribers’ consent to that use according to the Member State in which the undertakings requesting the information referred to in that provision provide those services. (see para. 41, operative part 2)