CJEU confirms that EU law precludes the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data
The Court of Justice of European Union (CJEU) in its judgment in Case C-140/20 on 5 April 2022 confirmed that its settled
case-law which holds that EU law precludes national legislative measures which provide, as a preventative measure, for the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data relating to electronic communications, for the purposes of combating serious crime.
The privacy and electronic communications directive does not merely create a framework for access to such data through safeguards to prevent abuse, but enshrines, in particular, the principle of the prohibition of the storage of traffic and location data. The retention of traffic and ocation data thus constitutes, in itself, first, a derogation from the prohibition of the storage of those data, and, second, an interference with the fundamental rights to the respect for private life and the protection of personal data, enshrined in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
Source: Court of Justice of the European Union PRESS RELEASE No 58/22
