27/07/2023, 22:38 CURIA - Documents the resumption of the proceedings in Joined Cases C‑793/19 and C‑794/19. 43 The referring court, to which the Registry communicated that judgment, stated that it was maintaining its request for a preliminary ruling. 44 In that respect, the referring court first of all noted that the retention obligation provided for by the legislation at issue in the main proceedings concerns a smaller amount of data and a shorter retention period than that provided for by the national legislation at issue in the cases that gave rise to the judgment of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others (C‑511/18, C‑512/18 and C‑520/18, EU:C:2020:791). Those particular features reduce the possibility that the data retained could allow very precise conclusions to be drawn concerning the private lives of the persons whose data have been retained. 45 Next, it reiterated that the national legislation at issue in the main proceedings ensures the effective protection of retained data against the risks of abuse and unlawful access. 46 Lastly, it indicated that uncertainties remain as regards the question of the compatibility with EU law of the retention of IP addresses, provided for by the national legislation at issue in the main proceedings, due to an inconsistency between paragraphs 155 and 168 of the judgment of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others (C‑511/18, C‑512/18 and C‑520/18, EU:C:2020:791). Thus, according to the referring court, uncertainty arises from that judgment as to whether the Court requires, for the retention of IP addresses, a ground for retention linked to the objective of safeguarding national security, combating serious crime or preventing serious threats to public security, as seems to follow from paragraph 168 of that judgment, or whether the retention of IP addresses is permitted even in the absence of a specific ground, since only the use of the retained data is limited by those objectives, as paragraph 155 of that judgment suggests. Consideration of the question referred 47 By its question, the referring court seeks, in essence, to ascertain whether Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, read in the light of Articles 6 to 8 and 11 and Article 52(l) of the Charter and Article 4(2) TEU, must be interpreted as meaning that it precludes a national legislative measure which, with certain exceptions, requires providers of publicly available electronic communications services – for the purposes set out in Article 15(1) of that directive, and inter alia for the purposes of prosecuting serious criminal offences or preventing a specific risk to national security – to retain, in a general and indiscriminate way, most of the traffic and location data of the end users of those services, laying down a retention period of several weeks and rules intended to ensure the effective protection of the retained data against the risks of abuse and against any unlawful access to those data. Applicability of Directive 2002/58 48 As regards the argument of Ireland and the French, Netherlands, Polish and Swedish Governments that the national legislation at issue in the main proceedings does not fall within the scope of Directive 2002/58, since it was adopted, inter alia, in order to safeguard national security, it is sufficient to note that national legislation which requires providers of electronic communications services to retain traffic and location data for the purposes, inter alia, of protecting national security and combating crime, such as the legislation at issue in the main proceedings, falls within the scope of Directive 2002/58 (judgment of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others, C‑511/18, C‑512/18 and C‑520/18, EU:C:2020:791, paragraph 104). Interpretation of Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58 The principles drawn from the Court’s case-law 49 It is settled case-law that, in interpreting a provision of EU law, it is necessary not only to refer to its wording but also to consider its context and the objectives of the legislation of which it forms part, and in particular the origin of that legislation (judgment of 5 April 2022, Commissioner of An Garda Síochána and Others, C‑140/20, EU:C:2022:258, paragraph 32 and the case-law cited). https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document_print.jsf;jsessionid=A4432EEFFE3535A201E714AE6441EE66?mode=DOC&pageIndex=1&docid=265881… 12/28