THE GOVERNMENT has agreed to amend key Irish legislation that enables the Garda to investigate serious criminals, after losing a test case at Europe’s highest court.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said yesterday he would introduce new European legislation, requiring telephone operators to store details of all phone calls made for two years, rather than the three years currently mandated under Irish legislation.
The transposition of the EU data retention directive into Irish law will also force internet service providers to store details on all text messages, e-mails and internet sites visited by people. This will give police access to personal data relating to the maker and recipient of phone calls and e-mails, as well as the time and duration of a call, to use in serious crime and terrorist investigations.
The content of calls or e-mails will not be made available.
“The Minister has noted today’s judgment of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in relation to the data retention directive. Preparation for transposing the directive is at an advanced stage,” said a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice. The decision by Mr Ahern follows an important ruling yesterday by the ECJ, which dismissed an Irish appeal against the 2006 EU data retention directive.
This directive was introduced in the wake of the July 7th, 2005, terrorist attacks in London to ensure all European telephone and internet providers stored data for possible use in police investigations for a minimum of six months and a maximum of two years.
EU telecoms companies had, until then, tended to destroy call and internet data when they had fulfilled the billing purpose. But some countries, such as Ireland with its three-year rule, had already introduced tough laws on storage to enable police to track criminals.
Despite being a leading proponent for EU-wide legislation mandating the storage of telecoms data for criminal investigations, the Government objected to the way the directive was introduced by EU member states.
The EU chose the so-called “community method” as the legal base for the directive – a method used for laws relating to the protection of the single market. This gives the European Parliament and the European Commission a role in negotiating and passing laws. It also gives the European courts the power to force EU states to introduce the legislation and comply with all its measures.
The Government argued to the ECJ that member states should have agreed the legislation under the EU’s crime and judicial affairs pillar, which would have given each EU state a veto over the law and prevented the ECJ from ruling on cases involving the law.
It argued the directive’s main aim was to help fight crime, rather than contribute to the functioning of the internal market by providing a level playing field for telecoms firms.
However, the ECJ dismissed its arguments, finding that “the aim of combating crime is not the sole, or even the predominant, objective of that directive”.
“On the contrary, it was intended in the first place to contribute to the establishment and functioning of the internal market and to the elimination of distortions of competition,” the court added. The ECJ ordered Ireland to pay costs in the case.
The European Commission said it welcomed the judgment yesterday and noted Ireland was planning to transpose the directive. In 2007, the commission initiated legal action against Ireland and four other states for failing to properly transpose the directive.