Recently, the Court of Justice of the European Union
("CJEU") ruled on case
C-623/171 and the joined cases C-511/18,
C-512/182 and C-520/183 (the
"Joined Cases") on the lawfulness of
national security laws of the United Kingdom, France and Belgium,
respectively, which each require electronic communications services
providers (the "Service
Providers") to retain and disclose traffic
and location data of their respective users to national authorities
for the purpose of combating crime or safeguarding national
security. The CJEU provided some important clarifications on the
circumstances in which traffic and location data can be collected
and retained.
What clarification did the CJEU provide?
