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Matched Legal Cases: ['CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ', 'CJEU ']

Data Retention after the Judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union - PDF
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1 Prof. Dr. Franziska Boehm Prof. Dr. Mark D. Cole Assistant Professor, University of Münster, Institute for Information, Telecommunication and Media Law (ITM), Germany Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance and Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT), at the University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg Data Retention after the Judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union Münster/Luxembourg, 30 June 2014
2 Franziska Boehm and Mark D. Cole Contact to the authors: Prof. Dr. Franziska Boehm Juniorprofessur für IT Recht Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster ITM Institut für Informations, Telekommunikations und Medienrecht Zivilrechtliche Abteilung Leonardo Campus 9 D Münster T muenster.de muenster.de/jura.itm/hoeren/ Prof. Dr. Mark D. Cole Associate Professor for the Law of the New Information Technologies, Media and Communications Law at the University of Luxembourg, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance / Director for Academic Affairs at the Institute of European Media Law (EMR, Saarbrücken) 4, Rue Alphonse Weicker L 2721 Luxembourg T Funding for this study was provided by the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament. 1
3 Abridged Table of Contents Abridged Table of Contents... 1 Table of Contents... 2 Executive Summary... 7 A. Background and Scope of Study... 9 B. The EU Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC...10 I. Brief history and overview of the DRD...10 II. Transposition of the DRD and Related Case Law...13 III. Focus of Criticism on the DRD and Transposition...18 C. The CJEU Judgement in Cases C 293/12 and 594/12 Annulling the Data Retention Directive.20 I. Background of the Judgement...20 II. Impact of ECHR and ECtHR Jurisprudence...21 III. Impact of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights...27 D. Impact of the Judgement on existing Data Retention Regimes in the Member States...41 I. Member States Law and EU Fundamental Rights...42 II. Judicial and Other Means for Reviewing National Measures...48 III. Status Quo of Member States Transposition and Data Retention Acts...54 IV. Conclusion...56 E. Impact of the DRD Judgement on other existing Data Retention Measures of the EU...58 I. Impact on PNR systems...58 II. Impact on terrorist finance tracking programmes...72 III. Impact on Eurodac...79 IV. Impact on Entry Exit System and Smart Borders...81 V. Impact on the proposal for a data protection directive in the law enforcement sector...84 VI. Interim conclusion...87 F. Conclusion and Perspectives...90 I. The DRD Judgement of the CJEU...90 II. Impact on data retention measures in the Member States...92 III. Impact on other data retention measures in the EU...94 IV. Concluding Perspectives...95 G. Bibliography
4 Table of Contents Abridged Table of Contents... 1 Table of Contents... 2 Executive Summary... 7 A. Background and Scope of Study... 9 B. The EU Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC...10 I. Brief history and overview of the DRD The relevant legal framework previous to the Lisbon Treaty The significance of the e privacy Directive of Policy considerations in preparation of a legal framework for data retention The final Data Retention Directive of II. Transposition of the DRD and Related Case Law First Judgement of the ECJ concerning EU Competence in Member States Courts Decisions concerning National Transposition Acts...14 a) The Decision of the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court...15 b) The Decision of the Romanian Constitutional Court...15 c) The Decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court...16 d) The Decision of the Cypriot Supreme Court...17 e) The Decision of the Czech Constitutional Court...18 III. Focus of Criticism on the DRD and Transposition...18 C. The CJEU Judgement in Cases C 293/12 and 594/12 Annulling the Data Retention Directive.20 I. Background of the Judgement...20 II. Impact of ECHR and ECtHR Jurisprudence Relevance of ECtHR jurisprudence in general Specific relevance in the case of DRD Applicable ECtHR case law...22 a) The case of S. and Marper v. United Kingdom...22 b) The case of M.K. v. France...24 c) Interim Conclusion
5 III. Impact of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights Relevant provisions of the Charter for the judgement Interference of the DRD with Articles 7 and 8 CFR...29 a) Conditions for an infringement...29 b) Seriousness of the infringement Justification of the Interference...32 a) The criterion of essence of the rights...33 b) Objective of general interest...34 c) Proportionality in view of the objective...35 aa) The criterion of appropriateness...35 bb) The criterion of necessity...35 (1) Scope of retention obligation...36 (2) Lack of Limits...37 (3) Lack of precision concerning retention period...38 cc) The additional criterion of sufficient safeguards to ensure effective protection...38 (1) Technical aspect...39 (2) The delegation of the retention to private parties...39 (3) The problem of the location of the data...40 D. Impact of the Judgement on existing Data Retention Regimes in the Member States...41 I. Member States Law and EU Fundamental Rights General Relevance of EU Fundamental Rights Effects of EU Fundamental Rights...43 a) Scope of Application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights...43 b) The significance in the context of fundamental freedoms The specific case of Data Protection...45 a) General Framework in Directive 95/46/EC...46 b) The role of Article 15 (1) of Directive 2002/58/EC...46 II. Judicial and Other Means for Reviewing National Measures General impact of the DRD Judgement for legislature and judiciary Claims before national courts Proceedings before the ECtHR Infringement proceedings against EU Member States Other possibilities...53 III. Status Quo of Member States Transposition and Data Retention Acts
6 IV. Conclusion...56 E. Impact of the DRD Judgement on other existing Data Retention Measures of the EU...58 I. Impact on PNR systems EU US PNR...58 a) Purpose and use...59 b) Retention period...61 c) Amount of data sets and access to PNR...62 d) Access and transfer...63 e) The rights of the data subjects EU PNR...65 a) Purpose and use...66 b) Retention period and distinction between different categories of data...67 c) Amount of data sets...68 d) Access and transfer Key findings...71 II. Impact on terrorist finance tracking programmes EU US TFTP Agreement a) Bulk data transfer...72 b) Independent oversight...74 c) Information of persons concerned and redress EU TFTS Proposal...75 a) Discussion about changing the EU US TFTP in favour of an EU TFTS...75 b) General remarks on the EU TFTS proposal Key findings...78 III. Impact on Eurodac Verifying the Access to Eurodac data Storage period and proportionality No distinction between different categories of data Key findings...81 IV. Impact on Entry Exit System and Smart Borders Possible use for LE purposes Necessity in light of the DRD Judgement Key findings
7 V. Impact on the proposal for a data protection directive in the law enforcement sector Independent oversight and transfer to third states Rules on cooperation with the private sector Profiling Definitions of key terms Key findings and general remarks...86 VI. Interim conclusion...87 F. Conclusion and Perspectives...90 I. The DRD Judgement of the CJEU...90 II. Impact on data retention measures in the Member States...92 III. Impact on other data retention measures in the EU...94 IV. Concluding Perspectives...95 G. Bibliography
8 Abbreviations used in the study AG = Advocate General CJEU = Court of Justice of the European Union, also referred to hereinafter as Court CFR = Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union DRD = Data Retention Directive DRD Judgement = CJEU Cases C 293/12 and C 594/12 ECHR = European Convention on Human Rights ECtHR = European Court of Human Rights EDPS = European Data Protection Supervisor EES = Entry Exit System LE = law enforcement PNR = Passenger Name Record TFTP = Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme TFTS = Terrorist Finance Tracking System Other abbreviations relating to specific measures are explained in the text. 6
9 Executive Summary This study analyses the Data Retention Directive Judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 8 April 2014 and evaluates its impact on other data retention measures at Member States as well as at EU level. Results of the analysis of the Data Retention Judgement With its decision on the Data Retention Directive, the Court s Grand Chamber has delivered a key judgement. First, the judgement has major consequences on the relationship between the rights to data protection and privacy on the one hand and law enforcement (LE) measures on the other hand in the EU and its Member States. With the complete and retrospective annulment of the Data Retention Directive (DRD) it emphasizes the seriousness of the violation of fundamental rights by the Directive. It opposes the general and undifferentiated nature of data retention measures foreseen in the Directive and gives important clarifications with regard to the relationship between and scope of Article 7 and 8 CFR. Second, by referring to the guarantees of the ECHR and its interpretation in the ECtHR case law in the context of data retention measures, the CJEU links irreversibly the two legal orders even closer than in the past and opens the possibility to interpret Article 8 ECHR and Article 7 and 8 CFR in a parallel way. Therefore, the statements of the Court not only refer to the singular case of the DRD, but also establish general principles for similar data retention measures. These principles encompass the following points: The collection, retention and transfer of data each constitute infringements of Article 7 and 8 CFR and require a strict necessity and proportionality test. The Court clearly rejects the blanket data retention of unsuspicious persons as well as an indefinite or even lengthy retention period of data retained. The Court sees a sensitive problem in data originally collected for other purposes later being used for LE purposes. It requires a link between a threat to public security and the data retained for such purposes. The required link significantly influences the relationship between private and public actors. LE is only allowed to access data collected for other purposes in specific cases. The Court explicitly demands effective procedural rules such as independent oversight and access control. The collection and use of data for LE purpose entails the risk of stigmatization stemming from the inclusion of data in LE databases. This risk needs to be considered and should be taken into account when reviewing other existing or planned data retention measures at EU and Member States level. Results of the analysis of the impact on data retention measures in the Member States A further outcome of the analysis shows that national measures transposing the DRD need to be amended if they contain provisions close to those of the now void DRD. There is a close link between the standards of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and Member State measures in this field which leads to an equivalent standard for the validity test of the transposing law. If governments and parliaments in the Member States do not change their national data retention systems after the judgement, there are ways to challenge the national laws before courts which likely would lead to similar consequences for the national laws as the CJEU drew for the DRD. 7
10 The most promising way to have a national data retention law reviewed in light of its compliance with fundamental rights and compatibility with EU law is the initiation of legal proceedings in front of national courts. This will potentially include a preliminary reference procedure initiated by the national court for further clarification. Alternatively, after exhaustion of domestic remedies individuals could claim that national data retention schemes violate Article 8 ECHR before the European Court of Human Rights. Results of the analysis of the impact on other data retention measures in the EU The judgement also impacts other instruments on EU level concerning data retention and access to this data by authorities. The study therefore tested seven exemplary EU measures on compatibility with the standards set by the DRD Judgment, namely the EU US PNR Agreement, the EU PNR proposal, the EU US TFTP Agreement, the EU TFTS proposal, the LE access to Eurodac, the EES proposal and the draft data protection directive in the LE sector. All analyzed measures provide for data retention and affect an enormous amount of (unsuspicious) individuals. Some of the measures seem to be even more infringing than the original DRD. There are fundamental compatibility problems, in particular when it comes to undifferentiated bulk data collection and transfer of flight passenger and bank data to the US. The same problems arise with regard to the respective plans to establish similar systems at EU level. The rationale for these measures contradicts in essential points the findings of the DRD Judgement. The Court requires a link between the data retained and a threat to public security that cannot be established if the data of unsuspicious persons is retained in a bulk. The analysed measures show considerable shortcomings when it comes to the compliance with the fundamental rights which is why they need to be reviewed in light of the DRD Judgement. Conclusion The study has demonstrated the impact of the DRD Judgement on data protection and privacy in the LE sector and on other data retention measures. Essential is that blanket retention of data of unsuspicious persons for the later use for LE is not in line with Article 7 and 8 CFR since it is not possible to establish a link between the data retained and a threat to public security. Any possible future data retention measure needs to be checked against the requirements of the DRD Judgement. If the EU or the Member States plan to introduce new data retention measures, they are obliged to demonstrate the necessity of the measures in every single case. A further important outcome for EU policy making is that if the EU enacts measures infringing Articles 7 and 8 CFR, it needs to define key terms that justify the infringement, such as the use of the data for serious crime purposes, to avoid a diverse interpretation of such key terms in the EU Member States. Moreover, the principles of the DRD Judgement also require a review of measures with the same rationale. EU bodies, particularly the Commission, must review the existing and planned data retention measures of Member States and the EU duly considering the DRD Judgement. The principles of the DRD Judgement further require a review and renegotiation of international agreements (EU US PNR and EU US TFTP) since these agreements do not comply with some of the standards set in the DRD Judgement. Finally, the Judgement necessitates a redefinition of the relationship between public and private actors with regard to mutual data access and exchange in the law enforcement context. 8
11 A. Background and Scope of Study In a long awaited and much discussed decision the Court of Justice of the European Union recently declared the EU Data Retention Directive of 2006 void in its entirety. The judgement as well as previously the Opinion of the Advocate General states very clearly that there is a serious violation of fundamental rights by the DRD. The right to privacy in Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union as well as the right to protection of data in its Article 8 were seriously infringed by the requirement contained in the DRD that Member States have to introduce obligations of electronic communications service providers to collect, store and retain for potential access by competent authorities a large number of communication related data. In a way the Court s judgement finalized a long saga. 1 Not only had there been a conflict about the competence of the European Union to legislate on the topic, but also several Member State constitutional and other courts had to deal with the national implementations in challenges brought by individuals and courts. The original competency decision of the CJEU clarified that the EU had the legal basis to pass a data retention obligation for electronic communication means on the basis of the general harmonisation provision even though the ultimate objective was the combating of serious crime for which the EU did not have a competency. This decision, however, was not apt to pacify the serious controversies and it does not come as a surprise that several of the challenges initiated at Member States level represented a wide popular demand for review. Although the Court has with its judgement clarified that indeed from the very beginning there was a fundamental rights issue and that the courts of the Member States that had struck down national transpositions were obviously on the right track, there are still a number of questions open. In this context, the authors of the study were asked by the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament to elaborate on the consequences the DRD judgement of the Court has. For that purpose the study initially reminds briefly of the history of the DRD and describes the judgements rendered both by the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Member States courts. The main chapter of the study deals with an in depth analysis of the judgement of April 2014 with a focus on the general conclusions that can be drawn concerning the application of the fundamental rights of Articles 7 and 8 CFR to comparable situations. In that chapter the relevant case law of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is included as it is integrated by the CJEU into the interpretation of EU law. The following two chapters deal with the further impact of the judgement. First, the situation for the Member States is analyzed, whereby in one part the general obligations stemming from such a decision are presented and in exemplary cases in the other part the concrete consequences for established national data retention schemes. After that the impact of the judgement on other existing or planned data retention measures on the level of the EU is shown, before a conclusion and recommendations finalize the study. 1 Cf. extensively also Cole/Boehm, CritQ 2014, pp
12 B. The EU Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC This study concerns the European Union s Data Retention Directive which entered into force in It was mainly a reaction to the terrorist attacks in Madrid of 11 March 2004 and London of 7 July 2005, but for lack of a competency in criminal law, it was based on the general harmonisation provision of the then EC Treaty. The motivation was to create a better functioning common market in the telecommunications sector by replacing the diverse approaches on national level to data retention by a harmonized framework on EU level. Although the Directive was declared invalid by the Court of Justice in the case of Digital Rights Ireland and Kärnter Landesregierung et al. 2 due to its incompatibility with fundamental rights, there were serious doubts raised from the very beginning whether a measure creating such a vast effort was efficient in view of the goals it was supposed to be contributing to. It is necessary to briefly shed light on the developments that led to the passing of the Directive and the events since and up to the judgement of the Court. I. Brief history and overview of the DRD 1. The relevant legal framework previous to the Lisbon Treaty One needs to remember that before 2009 primary EU law was different in the area relevant for this study compared to today. Most importantly, although there was a provision in Article 286 EC Treaty concerning the application of the EU data protection framework (also to all EC institutions and bodies) there was no general data protection provision as can now be found in Article 16 TFEU. 3 The equivalence table attached to the Treaty of Lisbon suggests that this new Article 16 TFEU is a replacement of the former Article 286 TEC, but in actual fact the scope of data protection in the EU context is significantly expanded with the Lisbon Treaty. Not only is it a declaratory restatement of the rights to data protection, it also gives the EU a legal basis to create rules concerning processing of data by the EU and its Member States in connection with EU law. Although the equivalence table attached to the Treaty of Lisbon suggests the new Article 16 TFEU is a replacement of the former Article 286 TEC, in reality the new provision significantly expands the scope of data protection in the EU context. Further, before the amending Lisbon treaty was passed, fundamental rights on the level of the EU were developed by the CJEU, even as a catalogue style of rights (and limitations) was lacking. Although the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU already existed since 2000 it had been merely proclaimed and was not legally binding. 2 CJEU, Case C 293/12, Digital Rights Ireland and in Case C 594/12 Kärntner Landesregierung and Others. 3 Cf. also Article 39 TEU concerning data processing by Member States concerning the Common Foreign and Security Policy. 10
13 2. The significance of the e privacy Directive of 2002 When the European Union prepared the creation of a concise regulatory framework for the telecommunications sector, bringing together existing previous Directives and creating new ones in the regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services package eventually passed in 2002, it was clear that this would encompass a specific Directive concerning data protection for several reasons. Mainly, the EU Data Protection Directive of 1995 was regarded as being too general and technological. Additionally, market development was so rapid that complementing specific rules were needed. 4 Some Member States had by then already introduced schemes to collect communications related data. Further, provisions allowing retention of this data for consumer protection reasons, mainly in view of verification of billing already existed. The different measures risked contradicting the general data protection rule according to which processing of data is only allowed under certain conditions and that retention of data is the exception to this rule. Therefore, the communications specific data protection Directive 2002/58/EC commonly referred to as the e privacy Directive included a rule regarding the exceptional compatibility of retention instruments by Member States. Based on this provision, several States introduced retention schemes into their national laws, many of them taking into account the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001 and the resulting introduction of intensive monitoring instruments by the US authorities. 3. Policy considerations in preparation of a legal framework for data retention This diversity of these national rules was seen as detrimental by some and the Commission was under pressure to propose an instrument on data retention from several sides. Plans to establish an EU wide data retention regime existed long before the above mentioned terrorist attacks of Madrid and London. 5 These plans however were never officially published, but leaked by NGOs. 6 The terrorist attack in Spain in 2004 then provided the possibility for four Member States (France, Ireland, Sweden and UK) to officially publish a draft for a Framework Decision on the retention of data of electronic communications service providers very shortly after the event. 7 The proposal was met with criticism relating to a possible infringement of Article 8 ECHR, as well as with regard to the legal basis. 8 The basis foreseen was a (former) third pillar choice because of the connection to LE purposes and this would have resulted in exclusion of the European 4 Cf. also Directive 97/66/EC as a predecessor of the more comprehensive Directive 2002/58/EC that became the sectorspecific data protection Directive for the electronic communications sector. 5 Cf. the statewatch leak in 2002: A detailed analysis of the history leading to the DRD can be found in Robinson, pp. 3 28, esp. p 16 et seq. 6 Many documents can be found at statewatch: 7 Draft Framework Decision on the retention of data processed and stored in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or data on public communications networks for the purpose of prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of crime and criminal offence including terrorism, Council doc. 8958/04, Brussels, 28 April Cf. inter alia Article 29 Working Group, Opinion 09/2004 of 9 November
14 Parliament from the legislative process. The discussions were further sparked by leaked opinions of the legal services of both Commission and Council that indicated that due to preexisting rules applicable to service providers in the area of electronic communications services the instrument would actually have to be placed under the first pillar (as EC law). 9 The London bombings of 2005 then accelerated the process and the Commission followed the argument of the Parliament that wanted to be involved in the legislative process. Therefore, the substantively more or less exact copy of what was proposed in the draft framework decision was now proposed in form of a draft Directive. 10 The Parliament, willing to prove its participation in anti terrorism matters, finally swiftly adopted the DRD, not least because the Council had insisted to adopt a Framework Decision in case the Parliament would refuse to agree to the draft Directive. 11 Within three months of the proposal the Parliament voted in favour (less than a year after having rejected the idea of an equivalent text in a Framework Decision) and in February 2006 the DRD was finally adopted in the quickest legislative process in EU history until then The final Data Retention Directive of 2006 As a result of the situation described above, preparations were soon underway for a Directive concerning data retention. Because the EU Treaties in the version of the Treaty of Nice did not provide a sufficient legal basis for a harmonization of criminal investigation instruments in Member States and the measure could neither be based on a provision concerning data protection, the general harmonization provision in former Article 95 TEC now Article 114 TFEU was chosen as the legal basis. This was subject to much criticism from some of the Member States, as the Directive itself mentions as a main goal the prevention and combating of crime and the original approach was consequently a proposal for a framework decision under the former third pillar as mentioned above. 13 This eventually led to a procedure before the CJEU initiated by Ireland which will be discussed below. Irrespective of the criticism, the approach of harmonizing the rules on retention of communications data in the Member States in order to facilitate the provision of (telecommunications) services across the common market was upheld. The Directive itself established the obligation of Member States to introduce a system of retention of telecommunications data for a period of six months to two years. The Directive is includes only 17 short articles, but details the exact categories of data to be retained and gives some basic indications regarding data protection and security requirements. However, and this is an early flaw of the Directive, measured against the extensive coverage of data to be retained, there are only very basic requirements that the Member States rules have to include with regard to the access to data, protection of the data, remedies, liability or the organisation of 9 Cf. with further references Robinson, p. 18 et seq. 10 For the change in the legal basis, compare: Roßnagel/Moser Knierim/Schweda, pp Roßnagel/Moser Knierim/Schweda, p Cf. Robinson, p On this change of approach in order to make the proposal fit the constraints of the legal bases available in the Treaty then Robinson, p. 18 et seq. 12
15 supervisory authorities. Unsurprisingly, because these wide margins were left, the transposition of the Directive in the Member States was diverse. The original transposition period was one and a half years but this could be prolonged for internet related data until latest March 2009 (amounting then to three years), an option which Member States generally used. The national provisions resulted in strong opposition from civil society and politicians in several Member States. As a result many of the laws were challenged before courts. The highest administrative or constitutional courts of Bulgaria, Romania, Germany, Cyprus and the Czech Republic that were confronted with cases about the conformity of national laws transposing the DRD with national administrative or constitutional order declared parts of the or the whole acts void. 14 Although some of these decisions briefly presented below were very severe in the statement of non conformity with fundamental rights, none of these courts made a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union for guidance on whether the original DRD itself was possibly itself the violating act and not in conformity with EU fundamental rights. In Germany there was a specific case, because the Constitutional Court s judgement removed in total the existing transposition act, but left open the possibility of creating a new act within the confines of national fundamental rights law. This possibility was never realized due to political controversies in the governments concerned, so there was no transposition in Germany after 2010 and until the DRD judgement of the CJEU was handed down. 15 Sweden had been very late in transposition and was therefore fined a lump sum payment of 3 Million Euro for nontransposition in an infringement procedure before the CJEU. 16 II. Transposition of the DRD and Related Case Law 1. First Judgement of the ECJ concerning EU Competence in 2009 As mentioned above, due to a conflict over the competence of the EU to pass a Directive concerning data retention in view of criminal investigations, the CJEU already at an earlier stage was confronted with the DRD. After the Directive was passed by majority in 2006, Ireland, joined by Slovakia, brought a case before the European Court of Justice questioning the legal basis of the Data Retention Directive. 17 Ireland argued that the DRD should have been based on a third pillar legal basis, as it was originally planned because it regulates in actual fact the data 14 Decision of the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court of 11 December 2008; Decision of the Romanian Constitutional Court of 8 October 2009; Decision of the German Constitutional Court of 2 March 2010; Decision of the Czech Constitutional Court of 22 March 2011; Decision of the Cypriote Supreme Court of 1 February 2011; for further analysis see De Vries et al., p. 3 et seq. More information about the Cypriot Supreme Court decision can be found at retention un lawful cyprus and in Markou, Law & Security Review 28 (2012), Cf. also Commission infringement procedure at the Court, Case C 329/12 Commission v Germany, which was withdrawn after the DRD Judgement. 16 CJEU, Case C 270/11 Commission v Sweden. In the EP plenary session of 16 April 2014 Commissioner Malmström confirmed that as a consequence of the Court s DRD Judgement Sweden would be paid back the fine, cf. //EP//TEXT+CRE ITEM 017+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN. 17 CJEU Case C 301/06 Ireland v. Parliament and Council. Cf. further on this section Cole/Boehm, CritQ (2014), p.71 et seq. 13
16 retention for law enforcement purposes. This aim is indeed mentioned in Article 1 (1) and (2) DRD according to which the Directive harmonized the Member States provisions concerning the obligation of electronic communication service providers to store the clients data in order to ensure that the data are available for the purpose of the investigation, detection and prosecution of serious crime. From the viewpoint of Ireland the reasoning that the main purpose of the Directive was the harmonisation of the internal market under former Article 95 EC Treaty 18 was misleading, because the real reason was not to facilitate the service providers cross border activity in the EU but to have the data available for later use by LE. Notwithstanding the wording of Article 1 DRD, the Court ruled that Directive 2006/24 regulates operations which are independent of the implementation of any police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters. 19 With this the Court could conclude that the DRD did actually have the harmonization of the rules concerning activities of service providers in the EU internal market in mind and did not directly concern police purposes. 20 As a result, the Court approved the first pillar choice of Article 95 EC Treaty as the correct legal basis for the DRD and dismissed the case of Ireland and Slovakia. One possible explanation that the CJEU did not enter into a further discussion of was whether there was at least a second function of the Directive concerning LE purposes and what consequence such a ruling would have had. If the Court had annulled the first pillar choice, any measure concerning data retention on the EU level which was used for LE purposes would have had to be based on a different provision and that would most likely have been a third pillar option. This in turn would have meant that both European Parliament and European Data Protection Supervisor would have been excluded from the legislative process. Politically speaking, this lack of more direct control of the measure by the Parliament in a matter concerning the everyday life of EU citizens was possibly seen as more negative. With the abolition of the pillar structure by the Treaty of Lisbon a competency case concerning the DRD after 2009 may have ended differently, although this is speculative. 2. Member States Courts Decisions concerning National Transposition Acts As the DRD resulted in the storing of huge amounts of data of unsuspicious persons, the main criticism uttered in Member States was related to the infringing effect the DRD had on the fundamental rights of privacy and free correspondence. In addition, specific data protection issues and as one Court put it the diffusely threatening feeling of being watched as a consequence of mass data retention were further important aspects in the judicial evaluation. 21 As mentioned above, these questions were left unanswered by the initial judgement of the 18 Former Article 95 EC Treaty could be invoked when disparities exist between national rules which are such as to obstruct the fundamental freedoms or to create distortions of competition and thus have a direct effect on the functioning of the internal market, cf. also Case C 301/06 Ireland v. Parliament and Council, para CJEU Case C 301/06 Ireland v. Parliament and Council, para CJEU Case C 301/06 Ireland v. Parliament and Council, para Cf. the argument of the German Constitutional Court in the data retention case of 2 March 2010, point 3 of the English summary translation of the judgement. 14
17 Court. Although the CJEU had in its above mentioned decision underlined that it had not dealt with the issue of conformity with fundamental rights, national courts dealing with the transposition acts obviously had to focus on this question and decided to conclude without a further guidance by the Court of Justice. Instead, national courts restricted their judgements to questions of compliance of the national act transposing the DRD with national constitutional law leaving the EU instrument itself untouched until the cases initiated by Irish and Austrian courts reached the CJEU in These cases are discussed in detail below. In addition, to the hereinafter briefly mentioned decisions of national supreme courts of Bulgaria, Romania, Germany, Cyprus and the Czech Republic there were other cases in Member States still pending when the CJEU gave its DRD judgement in a) The Decision of the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court The Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court decided on validity of the national transposition act of the DRD already in December It annulled a part of the act, because there was a lack of privacy guarantees and because there were no sufficient limitations concerning access to the retained data. The court identified the procedure for receiving access to the retained data as crucial and because the national act did not specify these sufficiently, the court declared the act to be in breach of the Bulgarian Constitution. Lack of such rules and even on the actual retention procedure could lead to violations against which there were no safeguards. As a result, a number of articles of the Bulgarian data retention act were declared void, but not the act in its entirety. The Bulgarian legislature amended the act according to the court s requests and an amended data retention act has since been in force. 24 b) The Decision of the Romanian Constitutional Court A more fundamental reaction could be seen in the Decision of the Romanian Constitutional Court in October The Court annulled in total the national transposition act 26 due to its unconstitutionality. The Court severely criticized the act and found a number of reasons why it did not conform with the constitutional order, namely the rights of privacy (Article 26 of the Constitution), inviolability of domicile (Article 27), secrecy of communications (Article 28) and generally the right to free development of human personality (according to Article 1 (3)). As a starting point, in view of the restrictions the act had concerning the right to private life, the secrecy of correspondence and the freedom of expression. The court underlined that the wording was imprecise and not clear, thereby violating Article 53 which sets the requirements 22 In Hungary a case was lodged before the Constitutional Court (cf. protection/constitutionalcomplaint filed hclu against hungarian telecom data retention), however after the constitutional reform that also affected procedural aspects before the Court open cases were removed from the docket. Cf. on this specifically concerning the procedure Kosta, (2013) 10:3 SCRIPTed Cf. gram/number6.24/bulgarian administrative case data retention and 24 Cf. for details lex.europa.eu/search.html?or0=dn%3d72006l0024*%2cdnold%3d72006l0024*&qid= &type=advanced&au_coded=bgr.. 25 Decision No of 8 October 2009, published in December Law No. 298/2008, published in the Official Monitor No. 780 of 21 November
18 for provisions restricting fundamental rights. This criticism related inter alia to the provisions about access of state bodies which could be interpreted as encompassing any security or intelligence authority. It went further in saying that [ ] the continuous limitation of the privacy right and the secrecy of correspondence makes the essence of the right disappear by removing the safeguards regarding its execution. The physical and legal persons, mass users of the public electronic communication services or networks, are permanent subjects to this intrusion into their exercise of their private rights to correspondence and freedom of expression, without the possibility of a free, uncensored manifestation, except for direct communication, thus excluding the main communication means used nowadays. 27 The Romanian court compared the rules on data retention with other LE rules and expressed deep concern that the framework for audio and video surveillance in criminal investigations was much stricter than for data retention although that measure is only used against persons suspected of a crime. In the court s view this was especially problematic because the intrusion in the fundamental right by data retention happened continuously and without being justified by a specific reason such as a suspicion. In that way the exceptional admissibility of retention became the rule and reversed the rule/exception as foreseen by privacy laws. Also problematic was the fact that the secondary legislation that was supposed to give more precise rules on the implementation of the act, was never passed. As a consequence of the judgement and even though the criticism had been fundamental 28, the Romanian Parliament passed a new law under turbulent circumstances. The initial draft for this new law which was prepared under pressure of the Commission to follow up the obligation of transposition, was rejected by the Senate, but in May of 2012 finally adopted by the Parliament and promulgated by the President in June The amended law was criticized by many even more intensively as it actually s a near copy of the original law with only few amendments and does not respond to the different points criticized by the court. 30 Especially the refusal to insert specific procedural safeguards, but to rely instead completely on the procedures contained in the Criminal Procedure Code seems to be in contradiction to the requirements set by the court. However, no new case has been brought before the court concerning the law of c) The Decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court Maybe the most debated judgement concerning the DRD transpositions was handed down in March 2010 by the German Constitutional Court. It annulled essential parts of the German 27 Quote of the English translation of the Romanian Constitutional Court decision on data retention, accessible at internet.ro/en/jurisprudenta it romania/decizii it/romanian constitutional court decision regardingdata retention.html (emphasis added); cf. also De Vries et al., p. 3 et seq. 28 Cf. for further details also country report update on Romania in Invodas study, available at SB/content/PDF/Gutachten%20Abgeschlossene/INVODAS_Country%20Report%20Romania.pdf. 29 Act no. 82/2012 published in the Official Monitor No. 406 of 18 June 2014 on the retention of data generated or processed by electronic communications public networks providers and by the electronic communication services for the public; available in Romanian at internet.ro/legislatie itc/date cu caracter personal/legeanr privind retinerea datelor.html. 30 Cf. e.g. country report update on Romania in Invodas study, available at sb.de/tl_files/emr SB/content/PDF/Gutachten%20Abgeschlossene/INVODAS_Country%20Report%20Romania.pdf. 16
19 telecommunications law amendments concerning the provisions implementing the EU DRD 31. As a result of that judgement there was a lack of transposition until the final DRD judgement of the CJEU. As already mentioned, the Federal Constitutional Court restricted its criticism to the German provisions transposing the Directive and even though that criticism was severe, it did not consider asking the CJEU for a review of the EU Directive itself, but instead showed a fundamental disapproval with the German legislature s interpretation of the EU Directive when preparing the transposition. The court declared the manner of transposition to violate the principle of proportionality in view of the aims the DRD sought to achieve, meaning that the court saw room for an interpretation of the DRD implementation obligation that would possibly not be in violation of the Constitution. The act under scrutiny, however, was regarded to violate Article 10 of the Grundgesetz which protects the secrecy of telecommunications. Data retention for LE purposes is not per se incompatible with this provision of the Constitution in view of the Court 32, but the measures to protect citizens against massive infringement of their fundamental rights were seen to be insufficient. The Federal Constitutional Court emphasized that the collected data could be used to establish meaningful personality profiles of virtually all citizens and track their movements. 33 This would necessitate very high standards for data security, transparency of the processing and legal protection against violations including the possibility of effective sanctions. A central element of the decision was that the use of retained data for investigation and prosecution of crimes requires that there must at least be the suspicion of a criminal offence, based on specific facts, that is serious even in an individual case. 34 The lack of a precision of which types of criminal offences justify requesting access to the data was seen as a violation in itself, because this left too much room for interpretation. 35 The German Parliament could not agree on whether and how to re introduce data retention measures to transpose of the DRD in the years after the judgement and this situation remained until the DRD Judgement of the CJEU, which is why the Commission initiated the above mentioned infringement procedure against Germany. d) The Decision of the Cypriot Supreme Court A further decision on data retention was issued in February 2011 by the Cypriot Supreme Court. 36 Interesting in this case was that the national court pointed out, that parts of the transposition went even beyond the requirements of the DRD and it declared those parts void. In Cyprus, too, the rights to privacy and secrecy of correspondence and communication (guaranteed by Articles 15 and 17 of the Cypriot Constitution) were regarded to be violated due to the access of the police to the retained data. The court required a limitation of the cases in 31 Judgement of the Bundesverfassungsgericht of 2 March 2010, 1 BvR 256/08, 1 BvR 263/08, 1 BvR 586/ Compare point 3 of the English summary translation of the judgement. 33 Compare point 3 of the English summary translation of the judgement. 34 Compare point 4 of the English summary translation. 35 For further points of criticism cf. Cole/Boehm, CritQ (2014), p More information can be found at 3data retention un lawful cyprus/ and Markou, Computer Law & Security Review 28 (2012),
20 which access to the data stored would be possible, especially since Article 17 of the Cypriot Constitution expressly limits interferences with the right to secret correspondence to cases of convicted and unconvicted prisoners and business correspondence and communication of bankrupts during the bankruptcy administration. 37 The decision of the Cypriot Supreme Court was narrower than the ones mentioned above as it limited its criticism to the access and use rules which could be rectified. 38 e) The Decision of the Czech Constitutional Court Another constitutional challenge in a Member State was decided in March 2011 by the Czech Constitutional Court resulting in some of the provisions of the national transposition act of the DRD to be held void. The court raised doubts about the necessity and proportionality of data retention especially as the national rules went beyond the fight against serious crime and terrorism. 39 In the view of the court a major drawback from the perspective of the fundamental rights holders was that the law did not oblige the authorities to subsequently inform the persons concerned that their data had been requested. 40 Again, as in some of the cases above, the wide range of authorities that were in principle entitled to access the data and the lack of limitation of purposes was subject to criticism by the Czech Constitutional Court. 41 Not only did the court criticize that the national act went beyond the aims of the DRD, but it explicitly demanded from the legislature that the use of the retained data was only allowed if the aim could not be reached by other instruments. 42 The decision of the court left serious doubts as to whether or not it was at all possible to implement the DRD in conformity with national constitutional provisions, but the Parliament passed a new Data Retention Act taking into consideration the criticism conveyed. 43 III. Focus of Criticism on the DRD and Transposition The national courts which dealt with the transposition acts of the DRD criticized similar points. Most of them regarded blanket data retention measures as such, already to be problematic in view of fundamental rights guarantees and only exceptionally admissible with a robust set of guarantees and safeguards. In most cases, the vagueness of the provisions in national law, especially concerning who could access the retained data for which purposes, was seen as 37 English translation of the Cypriot Constitution available at: 38 Cf. Markou, Computer Law & Security Review 28 (2012), 468, Decision of the Czech Republic Constitutional Court of 22 March 2011, paras 55 57; for an unofficial English translation of cf. translation czech constitutional court decision data retention; cf. also Czech Constitutional Court rejects data retention law, EDRi, 31 March 2011, available at decisiondata retention. 40 Para 47 of the judgement. 41 Para 48 of the judgement. 42 Para 48 of the judgement. 43 Cf. lex.europa.eu/lexuriserv/lexuriserv.do?uri=celex:72006l0024:en:not#field_cz; Czech Republic: Data retention almost back in business, EDRi, 1 August 2012, available at 15czechrepublic new data retention law/; Fučík, IRIS :1/15. 18
Prof. Dr. Franziska Boehm Prof. Dr. Mark D. Cole Data Retention after the Judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union Prof. Dr. Franziska Boehm Assistant Professor, University of Münster, Institute
THE WAY TO LUXEMBURG: NATIONAL COURT DECISIONS ON
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