27/07/2023, 22:38 CURIA - Documents – Ireland, by A. Joyce and J. Quaney, acting as Agents, and by D. Fennelly, Barrister-at-Law, and P. Gallagher, Senior Counsel, – the Spanish Government, by L. Aguilera Ruiz, acting as Agent, – the French Government, by A. Daniel, D. Dubois, J. Illouz, E. de Moustier and T. Stéhelin, acting as Agents, – the Cypriot Government, by I. Neophytou, acting as Agent, – the Netherlands Government, by M.K. Bulterman, A. Hanje and C.S. Schillemans, acting as Agents, – the Polish Government, by B. Majczyna, D. Lutostańska and J. Sawicka, acting as Agents, – the Finnish Government, by A. Laine and M. Pere, acting as Agents, – the Swedish Government, by H. Eklinder, A. Falk, J. Lundberg, C. Meyer-Seitz, R. Shahsavan Eriksson and H. Shev, acting as Agents, – the European Commission, by G. Braun, S.L. Kalėda, H. Kranenborg, M. Wasmeier and F. Wilman, acting as Agents, – the European Data Protection Supervisor, by A. Buchta, D. Nardi, N. Stolič and K. Ujazdowski, acting as Agents, after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 18 November 2021, gives the following Judgment 1 These requests for a preliminary ruling concern the interpretation of Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) (OJ 2002 L 201, p. 37), as amended by Directive 2009/136/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 (OJ 2009 L 337, p. 11) (‘Directive 2002/58’), read in the light of Articles 6 to 8 and 11 and Article 52(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’) and Article 4(2) TEU. 2 The requests have been made in proceedings between the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany), represented by the Bundesnetzagentur für Elektrizität, Gas, Telekommunikation, Post und Eisenbahnen (Federal Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Rail Networks, Germany), on the one hand, and SpaceNet AG (Case C‑793/19) and Telekom Deutschland GmbH (Case C‑794/19), on the other, concerning the obligation imposed on those companies to retain traffic and location data relating to their customers’ telecommunications. Legal context European Union law Directive 95/46/EC 3 Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (OJ 1995 L 281, p. 31), was repealed, with effect from 25 May 2018, by Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document_print.jsf;jsessionid=A4432EEFFE3535A201E714AE6441EE66?mode=DOC&pageIndex=1&docid=265881… 2/28