CJEU rules that access to electronic communications data for general crime investigation violates ePrivacy directive

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has delivered its judgment in C-746/18, Prokuratuur (Conditions d’accès aux données relatives aux communications électroniques) , deciding that ePrivacy directive and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union preclude national legislation that access of public authorities to a set of traffic or location data allowing precise conclusions about person’s private life, is permitted only in order to combat serious crime or prevent serious threats to public security. The judgement also stated that  EU law does not allow national legislation that confers upon the public prosecutor’s office the power to authorise access of a public authority to such data for the purpose of conducting a criminal investigation.