Ombudsman requests the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of the statute establishing a general obligation to retain telecommunications data

The Ombudsman has asked the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of Articles 4, 6 and 9 of Law 32/2008 of 17 July, which transposes Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March, concerning the conservation of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or public communications networks.

The statute in question imposes on telecommunications operators widespread and undifferentiated conservation for one year of all traffic and location data of all subscribers and registered users in relation to all electronic media.

It is understood that such a regime unduly restricts the fundamental rights to the reservation of the privacy of private and family life and the secrecy of communications, and violates the fundamental right to effective judicial protection, all enshrined in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.

The application to the Constitutional Court can be found here (in Portuguese only).