Court Suspends Dutch Telecom Data Retention Act

Dutch telecom and internet providers are no longer required to retain the telephone and internet traffic data of their customers. On 11 March 2015, The Hague District Court suspended the law that requires telecom providers to collect and store data for at least six months and to provide access to this data to competent national authorities. The Court concluded that the law violates citizen's fundamental rights to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data.

The Dutch Telecommunications Data Retention Act (WBT) requires telecom and internet service providers to store the data of the internet and telephone usage of their customers for six to twelve months. This includes the name, address, location data, telephone numbers called, used internet services, etc. Competent authorities (including the police or security agencies) are subsequently able to request access to details necessary to trace and identify the source, date, destination, time and