Obligations of the providers of electronic communications services in terms of the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data – a commentary on the Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 5 April 2022 in the Case C-140/20 G.D. v The Commissioner of the Garda Síochána and Others.

Abstract

Over the years, the issue of indiscriminate and general retention of traffic and location data has been considered many times by the Court of Justice. The Court has concluded that this is a tool that violates the rights included in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and that its further use should be limited only to the most serious purposes. In the commented judgment, the right of Member States to impose obligation of indiscriminate and general retention of data of users of this network onto the providers of electronic communications services was limited to precisely defined situations and in certain situations, methods of data retention that are less infringing on fundamental rights were explicitly named and allowed by the Court.