Federal Administrative Court
Federal Judge: Data retention is illegal
According to the Federal Administrative Court, the storage of traffic and location data is not strictly limited to the purpose of protecting national security. photo
©Oliver Berg/dpa
After years of discussions and uncertainties, the Federal Administrative Court has clarified the matter of data retention. The FDP sees the judgments as a clear mandate.
The regulation in the Telecommunications Act on the storage of phone numbers, IP addresses or the duration of connections “does not meet the requirements of Union law because no objective criteria are determined that establish a connection between the data to be stored and the goal pursued,” said the Federal Administrative Court.
The storage of traffic and location data is not strictly limited to the purpose of protecting national security. Although IP addresses may be stored to combat serious crime and prevent serious threats to public security, this is not so clearly defined in the Telecommunications Act.
With its judgments, the Federal Administrative Court followed the guidelines of the ECJ. The European Court of Justice had dealt with the retention of data after a submission by the highest German administrative court. The regulation had not been applied since 2017 due to legal uncertainties.
ECJ: Do not save without reason
According to the Luxembourg judgment, the communication data of all citizens may not be stored without reason; targeted and temporary storage of the data is only possible in the event of a serious threat to national security. According to the ECJ, it may also be possible to retain IP addresses to combat serious crime.
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann explained that the decision of the Federal Administrative Court made it finally clear that data retention in Germany is “completely illegal and therefore inapplicable”. “The current decisions are a clear order for us to quickly remove data retention from the law – and to further strengthen digital civil rights in our country,” said the FDP politician. He referred to the coalition agreement of the traffic light government, according to which relevant data should only be stored “legally certain and by judicial decision”.