EU Data Retention Directive Declared Null And Void: What Is Next And How The Ruling Has Been Received In The Member States

The Court of Justice ("CoJ") of the European Union ("EU") has declared the Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC ("Directive") to be invalid (the "Decision"). We provide for a summary of the Decision and discuss its possible consequences, including reactions to the judgment in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.

(Press release of the Court of Justice available under http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2014-04/cp140054en.pdf)

Full text of the Decision available under http://curia.europa.eu/juris/documents.jsf?num=C-293/12.)

The Decision and its consequences

The Data Retention Directive basically provides that certain traffic and location data as well as related data necessary to identify a subscriber or user must be retained by providers of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks for a period of at least six months and for no longer than two years from