Data retention in the light of copyright infringements: Protecting the status quo or seeking a third way? (Case C-470/21 La Quadrature du Net II )

Abstract

In La Quadrature du Net II, the EU Court of Justice addressed – once again – the issue of the application of national retention legislation providing for the generalized retention of telecommunications data. This time, unlike in the previous cases, the problem was examined not in relation to measures used in the areas of combating serious crime or pursuing national security objectives, but in relation to counteracting online copyright infringements. Hence the case, decided by the CJEU sitting as the Full Court, concerned an important and topical issue, namely the possibility of countering mass copyright infringements in a situation where, according to a strict reading of the previous case law, the permissibility of imposing an obligation on telecommunications operators to collect information on users’ IP addresses was questioned. The LQDN II judgment – commented on by some as diverging from previous case law – is an important and necessary complement to the Court's earlier interpretation and, at the same time, a guideline on how to design retention laws to be applied not only in the area of countering copyright infringements, but also in other important areas, such as the fight against hate speech.