Judgment of the EU Court of Justice in Joined Cases C-793/19 | SpaceNet and C-794/19 | Telekom Deutschland

The Judgment of the Court in Joined Cases C-793/19 | SpaceNet and C-794/19 | Telekom Deutschland was published on 20 September 2022.

SpaceNet and Telekom Deutschland brought actions in German courts, challenging the German Law on Telecommunications Act's (TKG) obligation to retain traffic and location data for their customers' telecommunications as of 1 July 2017.

In the opinion of the German Federal Administrative Court, these features make the data held less likely to allow very precise conclusions to be drawn regarding the private life of the persons whose data are held. It also considers that TKG ensures that the stored data is effectively protected against the risks of misuse and illegal access.

According to the Court,

• EU law does not preclude permissive national legislation for the purpose of protecting national security.
• However, EU law does not preclude national legislation that provides for the targeted retention of limited traffic and location data to protect national security, fight serious crime and prevent serious threats to public safety.
• However, EU law does not preclude national legislation which, for the same purposes, ensures that IP addresses assigned to the origin of an internet connection are stored publicly and indiscriminately for a strictly necessary time-limited period.
• As regards the TKG, the Court notes that it is clear from the citation order that the retention obligation established by the legislation in question covers, inter alia, data necessary to identify the source and destination of a communication.

The Court of Justice confirms that EU law prevents the general and indiscriminate storage of traffic and location data, except where there is a serious threat to national security. However, to combat serious crime, Member States may, in full compliance with the principle of proportionality, ensure, inter alia, that such data is retained on a targeted or expedited basis, and that IP addresses are retained publicly and indiscriminately.

You can find the full text of the judgment here.

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Zumbul Attorneys at Law

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