Data retention as a matter of Constitutional Law

Chapter 22 aims to provide a critical overview of a selection of judgments made by Member States’ constitutional courts on data retention. It claims that the relationship between EU law and national law plays a key role in the solutions adopted from time to time by constitutional courts. It outlines a variety of approaches that are reflected in the decisions taken by constitutional courts both before and after Digital Rights Ireland, looking at the interaction with the attempt made by the Court of Justice of the European Union to model a new legal regime applicable to data retention in the absence of a comprehensive legal framework in European Union law.