Following the invalidation of the Data Retention Directive by the Court of Justice of the EU in April 2014, the e-Privacy Directive constitutes the EU legal basis for member states to oblige electronic service providers (ECS) to retain metadata (e.g. traffic and location data).

Our latest benchmark shows that of the 18 surveyed European countries, only Germany, the Netherlands and Romania do not have any data retention rules in force.

Nearly all the surveyed countries impose on providers of electronic communications services general and indiscriminate data retention obligations. Only Belgium, Denmark and the UK foresee targeted retention of metadata.

The European Commission is consulting on the possible reintroduction of an EU-wide framework for metadata retention obligations.

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