Romanian NGOs demand stopping data retention in Europe

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: [Rumänische NGOs fordern einen Stopp der Vorratsdatenspeicherung in Europa | http://www.unwatched.org/node/2553]

In an open letter sent to the European institutions, several Romanian NGOs,
including EDRi-member APTI Romania, demanded stopping data retention in
Europe, following the decisions of the Constitutional Courts in Romania and
Germany.

The letter asks the European Commission to take advantage of the evaluation
process of the Data Retention Directive in order to correct the mistakes of
the past and to nullify the Directive, as it has been shown there are
difficulties in obtaining the relevant data regarding the efficiency of such
a system. The Commission has also received clear examples of abuses and
adverse effects on privacy.

The signatories underline that a Romanian implementation of the EU Directive
on data retention is impossible, after the 2009 decision of the
Constitutional Court that considered that the fundamental scope of the law
(and thus of the Directive) – legal obligation to continuously and
indiscriminately store telecommunication data- is unconstitutional.

They are also asking the competent European institutions to take note of the
irreconcilable conflict between the telecommunication data retention and the
human right to privacy and to act accordingly to respect the principles
in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

The text is meant to remind, support and respect the decision of the
Romanian Constitutional Court and not to put an EU Member State in a
position that will breach its constitutional texts: “The decision stipulates
that keeping all traffic data for all Romanian citizens is a measure that
breaches human rights, as foreseen by the Romanian Constitution. Thus ‘the
legal obligation with a continuous character, generally applicable, of data
retention (…) harms in an unacceptable way the exercise of the right to
privacy or the freedom of expression.'”

Telecommunication data retention must be stopped in Europe (26.01.2011)
http://www.apti.ro/pastrare-date-trafic.pdf

Decision of the Romanian Constitutional Court (8.10.2009)
http://www.legi-internet.ro/english/jurisprudenta-it-romania/decizii-it/romanian-constitutional-court-decision-regarding-data-retention.html

EDRi-gram: Data Retention Directive evaluation: expect the unexpected?
(15.12.2010)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.24/evaluation-data-retention-directive