The Data Retention Directive was a EU law that required providers of electronic communications services to retain certain data, such as traffic and location data, for a period of between six months and two years, for the purpose of preventing, investigating, detecting and prosecuting serious crime1. However, in 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union declared the Directive invalid, because it violated the fundamental rights to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data, as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU2. The Court found that the Directive entailed a wide-ranging and particularly serious interference with those rights, without being limited to what is strictly necessary3. One of the reasons for this finding was that the Directive applied to all individuals, all means of electronic communication and all traffic data without any differentiation, limitation or exception, thus affecting the entire population of the EU4. The Court also noted that the Directive did not provide sufficient safeguards to ensure effective protection of the data against the risk of abuse and unlawful access, and did not require the data to be retained within the EU5. Reference: 1 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/EC2 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union3 Press release No 54/14 - Judgment in Joined Cases C-293/12 and C-594/12 Digital Rights Ireland and Seitlinger and Others4 Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 8 April 2014. Digital Rights Ireland Ltd v Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and Others and Karntner Landesregierung and Others. Requests for a preliminary ruling from the High Court (Ireland) and the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Austria). Joined cases C-293/12 and C-594/125 Ibid.
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