Judgment Approved by the court for handing down. Davis & Ors v SSHD purposes listed in article 13(1) of the Data Protection Directive. The claimants accept that this decision is binding on us but reserve the point should the present case go to the Supreme Court. We therefore need say no more about it. Retention notices 64. The evidence before us does not include, even in a redacted form, the contents of any retention notice. In his evidence on behalf of the Secretary of State Paul Regan, Head of the Counter-Terrorism Legislation and Investigatory Powers Unit in the Home Office, states that the Home Office does not intend to publicise either the content of such notices or the identity of the CSPs to whom they are given. He explains:“…This is because to do so would risk undermining national security and the prevention and detection of crime and for reasons of commercial confidentiality. To provide a confirmation or denial as to whether a notice has been given to a specific CSP or to disclose any details of such a notice would allow interested parties to determine the extent and scope of work in this area. This would provide an insight into what the limit or scope of operation capability might be. Information concerning operation capability in respect of law enforcement and national security is highly sensitive information. It would be of significant value to criminal or terrorist groups. If, for example, the Home Office were to confirm that no notice had been given to a particular company, criminals and terrorists may choose to use that company rather than companies they know or suspect could be subject to a notice.” 65. Mr Eadie accepted that the consequence of this policy stance is that we should test the validity of DRIPA on the assumption that the retention notices issued under it may be as broad in scope as the statute permits, namely a direction to each CSP to retain all communications data for a period of 12 months. The case was argued on both sides on that basis. We shall refer in this judgment to a system under which the State may require CSPs to retain all communications data for a period as a “general retention regime”. 66. It was also accepted on all sides that it is unnecessary for any of the Claimants to show that public authorities have in fact acquired their communications data. The ECHR said in Weber and Saravia v Germany (2008) 46 EHRR SE5 at [78]: “The Court further notes that the applicants, even though they were members of a group of persons who were likely to be affected by measures of interception, were unable to demonstrate that the impugned measures had actually been applied to them. It reiterates, however, its findings in comparable cases to the effect that the mere existence of legislation which allows a system for the secret monitoring of communications entails a threat of surveillance for all those to whom the legislation may be applied. This threat necessarily strikes at freedom of communication between users of the telecommunications services and thereby amounts in itself to an