CJEU’s Advocate General argues data retention only permitted in case of serious national security threats

In view to clarify the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)’s case-law on the retention and access to personal data generated in the electronic communications sector, its Advocate General Campos Sánchez-Bordona has reiterated in a recent opinion that the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data relating to electronic communications is permitted only in the event of a serious threat to national security. In recent rulings such as La Quadrature du Net and Others (C-518/18), the CJEU had confirmed that EU law precludes national legislation requiring a provider of electronic communications services to carry out the general and indiscriminate transmission or retention of traffic data and location data for the purpose of combating crime in general or of safeguarding national security.