The European Court of Justice has yesterday somehow expectedly, particularly after the opinion delivered by Advocate General Cruz Villalon in December 2013, decided in the cases C‑293/12 and C‑594/12 that EU Data Retention Directive is invalid. More specifically, it held that :
Directive 2006/24 does not lay down clear and precise rules governing the extent of the interference with the fundamental rights enshrined in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter. It must therefore be held that Directive 2006/24 entails a wide-ranging and particularly serious interference with those fundamental rights in the legal order of the EU, without such an interference being precisely circumscribed by provisions to ensure that it is actually limited to what is strictly necessary (para. 65).
It is now necessary that the EU Commission prepares a new draft Directive in line with the EU Fundamental Rights Charter and the European Convention on Human Rights and opens an EU wide consultations involving all stake-holders from all Member States.
Esohap 