№65 The Political and Judicial Life of Metadata: Digital Rights Ireland and the Trail of the Data Retention Directive
№65 The Political and Judicial Life of Metadata: Digital Rights Ireland and the Trail of the Data Retention Directive

Author(s): Sergio Carrera, Elspeth Guild
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Economy, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Security and defense, EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, EU-Legislation
Published by: CEPS Centre for European Policy Studies
Keywords: Digital Rights Ireland; Trail of the Data Retention Directive; Court of Justice of the European Union;
Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the challenges facing the EU regarding data retention, particularly in the aftermath of the judgment Digital Rights Ireland by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of April 2014, which found the Data Retention Directive 2002/58 to be invalid. It first offers a brief historical account of the Data Retention Directive and then moves to a detailed assessment of what the judgment means for determining the lawfulness of data retention from the perspective of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: what is wrong with the Data Retention Directive and how would it need to be changed to comply with the right to respect for privacy? The paper also looks at the responses to the judgment from the European institutions and elsewhere, and presents a set of policy suggestions to the European institutions on the way forward. It is argued here that one of the main issues underlying the Digital Rights Ireland judgment has been the role of fundamental rights in the EU legal order, and in particular the extent to which the retention of metadata for law enforcement purposes is consistent with EU citizens’ right to respect for privacy and to data protection.

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