Wed, Feb 08 2012

Romanian constitutional court: data retention law unconstitutional

Fri, Oct 09 2009 13:11 CET

byRene Beekman

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Romanian constitutional court: data retention law unconstitutional

Photo: Constitutional Court of Romania

The Romanian constitutional court ruled on October 8 that a law which would require mobile operators and internet service providers to store communication data for six months was unconstitutional.

According to the court ruling, in a case brought to court by non-governmental organisation Civil Society Commission following a civil court action against mobile operator Orange, the law violated article 28 of the Romanian constitution. Under article 28, "the secrecy of letters, telegrams and other postal communications, of telephone calls and other legal means of communication is inviolable," Romanian daily Gandul said.

The law implemented the European Data Retention Directive and would have come into effect on December 31 2009.

The law was hotly disputed in Romania, with civil rights organisations claiming it violated basic rights and asking the Romanian ombudsman to challenge the law in the constitutional court, while prosecutors said it was too restrictive.

Prosecutor-general Laura Codruta Kovesi had argued that the six month period, during which data was stored, was too short. Prosecutors also objected to the provision that allowed them access to the data only once charges had been pressed, as opposed to the current situation, when the data is available even before that stage, Gandul said.

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Comments

Anonymous Victor Sun, Oct 11 2009 23:13 CET
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This is very good news,congratulations Bulgaria and Romania!
Unfortunately,I can't say the same for Serbia.This is the current situation here:
The Republic Agency for Telecommunications, RATEL, on July 11 adopted a rulebook that forces internet providers to submit such details as users’ e-mails and browsing history to police, with the aim of fighting cyber crime and 'terrorism' in the country and abroad.
According to this, the state will have access to e-mail senders’ personal data, e-mail content, and location from which the messages are being sent.
Serbia is not even a member [...]

 Read the full comment of EU,but it certainly is a repressive police state!

Anonymous Damir Sun, Oct 11 2009 16:16 CET
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Congratulations Bulgaria and Romania for bringing us Europeans our freedom back!


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