Filenews 28 October 2021 - by Michalis Hadjivasilis
The majority of the Supreme Court, by analogy 7 in favour and 6 against, found yesterday that the universal retention of the telecommunications data of all citizens of the Republic by the providers, is contrary to the Directive of the European Parliament on personal data.
This decision now overturns all the serious cases of the Police based on telecommunications data, since when a relevant issue is raised in the Court, it must comply with yesterday's decision of the Supreme Court. The issue has been raised before and the Court of Justice has shown the direction as to where things were going, but it is now clearly emphasised that the universal maintenance without discrimination of telecommunications data is contrary to Directive 2002/58/EC which ensures an equivalent level of protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, in particular the right to privacy, with regard to the processing of personal data in the electronic communications sector, and the free movement of such data and electronic communications equipment and services within the Community is ensured.
The majority of the Supreme Court considered that the police's access to the telecommunications data stored by the providers has no problem since there are several safeguards, but raised an issue with their universal preservation. As the Supreme Court pointed out, providers will be able to retain telecommunications data for the purpose of combating serious crime, and for the Police to have access to it, but only after the authorities become aware that someone is involved in a crime and not in advance. That is why it is necessary, as legal sources told 'F', to introduce legislation providing for this issue, based on criteria. Also, the Court held that it cannot be considered that because Cyprus is small and crimes are committed throughout its territory, this to justify the retention of the telecommunications data of all citizens.
As far as cases that are either before a Court of Justice and affected by this decision are concerned, or are in the process of being investigated and based on telecommunications data, they should be reviewed, according to the same sources, since when a matter of violation of the European Parliament's Directives is raised, then there will be a problem.
In the Legal Service and, by extension, in the prosecuting authorities, there is great concern and the whole tactic of investigating serious criminal acts should now be changed, since the practices of collecting testimony, which, in large cases, were based on telecommunications data, are being overturned.
Also, telecommunications service companies should stop keeping their customers' data for police access purposes.
According to the decision of the Plenum, at the heart of the four applications submitted by a group of lawyers on behalf of citizens following the issuance of decrees for access to their telecommunications data, was the question whether specific provisions of the Telecommunications Data Retention for the purpose of investigating Serious Criminal Offences Law of 2007, Law 183(I)/2007, are contrary to the applicable EU law and jurisprudence, in particular Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002.
