Art. 29 Working Party's opinion on the retention of data

The Art. 29 Working Party (established under Art. 29 Data Protection Directive) has published its recent opinion on the retention of data. It takes the following view:

Therefore, the Art. 29 Working Party proposes a uniform, European-wide implementation of the Directive. This approach should guarantee a harmonized application of the provisions of the Directive whilst respecting the highest level possible of protecting personal data. This should also be done with a view to reducing the considerable costs to be borne by the service providers when complying with the provisions of the Directive. In order to transpose the provisions of the Directive in a uniform way and to comply with the requirements of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Member States should implement adequate and specific safeguards.

We do not yet have the actual Directive, but here is the latest draft (pdf) to the retention of data. See also:

• Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the retention of data processed in connection with the provision of public electronic communication services and amending Directive 2002/58/EC, COM/2005/0438 final

• Opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor on the proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the retention of data processed in connection with the provision of public electronic communication services and amending Directive 2002/58/EC (COM(2005) 438 final)

• Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the retention of data processed in connection with the provision of public electronic communication services and amending Directive 2002/58/EC (COM(2005) 438 final — 2005/0182 (COD))

• Wikipedia: Telecommunications Data Retention