Secondary sources reported that the Irish High Court had questioned the compatibility of the EU Data Retention Directive with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. Accordingly, it was assumed that the High Court had referred various questions to the ECJ, in particular to inquire about the legality of the storage without cause. When asked by Telemedicus , the ECJ office also stated that such proceedings are not (currently) pending before the ECJ.
It is now reported that the ECJ has again confirmed receipt of the questions referred and is conducting the proceedings under file number C-293/12.
It also remains to be seen whether the ECJ will rule on the legality of the directive in the infringement proceedings initiated by the EU Commission against the Federal Republic of Germany. Normally, a Member State cannot justify the non-implementation of a directive on the grounds that the directive contains a breach of EU law. This is because there is a special legal remedy for this case in the action for annulment. Its special requirements would be circumvented if a member could achieve the same effects simply by not implementing a legal act.
We will continue to report.
