Resumen de Privacy is more than just a seven-letter word: : The Court of Justice of the European Union sets constitutional limits on mass surveillance: Court of justice of the european union decision of 8 april 2014 in joined cases c-293/12 and c-594/12, digital rights ireland and seitlinger and others

Tuomas Ojanen

• On 8 April 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court or ECJ) ruled that Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks and amending Directive 2002/58/EC (Data Retention Directive) is invalid. The judgment was issued within the preliminary reference procedure under Article 267 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in two cases in which the High Court (Ireland) and the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Austria) had asked the Court to examine the validity of the Data Retention Directive in light of Article 7 (the respect for private life and communications), Article 8 (the protection of personal data) and Article 11 (respect for freedom of expression) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the Charter), while taking into account Article 52(1) enumerating conditions for the limitations of the rights enshrined in the Charter