The European Commission adopted, on 21 September, a proposal for a Directive on the retention of communications traffic data, which intends to harmonize the setting of obligations on this matter aplicable to all providers of publicly available electronic communications, or a public telecommunications network, for purposes of prevention, investigation and detection of serious criminal offences, such as terrorism and organized crime.
According to the proposal, the Directive will not be applicable to the content of communications but includes the obligation to retain mobile or fixed telephony traffic data for one year and Internet traffic data for six months, as well as the reimbursement of network and service providers for the additional costs they will incur in fulfilling this obligation.
This proposal weighted the several aspects regarding fundamental rights involved in data processing, and is in line with the rules applicable to data protection in communications and with the European policy of consumer protection. The data processing which is object of this obligation will be supervised by the authorities responsible for data protection in the several Member States.
The proposal took into account the ongoing work in the scope of an initiative from the Member States for a framework decision on this matter, which has been in discussion within the Council since April last year and which will allow for data retention for a longer period, from 1 to 3 years. This document from the Commission is a legal alternative to the Council’s draft decision, but founded on a different legal basis, and its adoption requires the approval from both the European Parliament and the Council.
The retention of communications traffic data has been identified in several Council meetings as one of the most important instruments for preventing and combating organized crime and terrorism.
Currently, not all Member States have legislation regarding the systematic retention of data for judicial prosecution purposes and the existing rules differ in what regards the data retention time frame.
Further information:
- Commission proposes rules on communication data retention which are both effective for law enforcement and respectful of rights and business interests http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/05/1167&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
- COM(2005) 438 final http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2005/com2005_0438en01.pdf
