03/02/2020 CURIA - Documents InfoCuria Case-law English (en) Home > Search form > List of results > Documents Language of document : English ECLI:EU:C:2016:970 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Grand Chamber) 21 December 2016 (*) (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Electronic communications — Processing of personal data — Confidentiality of electronic communications — Protection — Directive 2002/58/EC — Articles 5, 6 and 9 and Article 15(1) — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Articles 7, 8 and 11 and Article 52(1) — National legislation — Providers of electronic communications services — Obligation relating to the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data — National authorities — Access to data — No prior review by a court or independent administrative authority — Compatibility with EU law) In Joined Cases C‑203/15 and C‑698/15, REQUESTS for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU, made by the Kammarrätten i Stockholm (Administrative Court of Appeal, Stockholm, Sweden) and the Court of Appeal (England & Wales) (Civil Division) (United Kingdom), by decisions, respectively, of 29 April 2015 and 9 December 2015, received at the Court on 4 May 2015 and 28 December 2015, in the proceedings Tele2 Sverige AB (C‑203/15) v Post- och telestyrelsen, and Secretary of State for the Home Department (C‑698/15) v Tom Watson, Peter Brice, Geoffrey Lewis, interveners: Open Rights Group, Privacy International, The Law Society of England and Wales, THE COURT (Grand Chamber), composed of K. Lenaerts, President, A. Tizzano, Vice-President, R. Silva de Lapuerta, T. von Danwitz (Rapporteur), J.L. da Cruz Vilaça, E. Juhász and M. Vilaras, Presidents of the Chamber, A. Borg Barthet, J. Malenovský, E. Levits, J.-C. Bonichot, A. Arabadjiev, S. Rodin, F. Biltgen and C. Lycourgos, Judges, Advocate General: H. Saugmandsgaard Øe, Registrar: C. Strömholm, Administrator, having regard to the decision of the President of the Court of 1 February 2016 that Case C‑698/15 should be determined pursuant to the expedited procedure provided for in Article 105(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court, having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 12 April 2016, after considering the observations submitted on behalf of: Tele2 Sverige AB, by M. Johansson and N. Torgerzon, advokater, and by E. Lagerlöf and S. Backman, Mr Watson, by J. Welch and E. Norton, Solicitors, I. Steele, Advocate, B. Jaffey, Barrister, and D. Rose QC, Mr Brice and Mr Lewis, by A. Suterwalla and R. de Mello, Barristers, R. Drabble QC, and S. Luke, Solicitor, Open Rights Group and Privacy International, by D. Carey, Solicitor, and by R. Mehta and J. Simor, Barristers, The Law Society of England and Wales, by T. Hickman, Barrister, and by N. Turner, the Swedish Government, by A. Falk, C. Meyer-Seitz, U. Persson, N. Otte Widgren and L. Swedenborg, acting as Agents, the United Kingdom Government, by S. Brandon, L. Christie and V. Kaye, acting as Agents, and by D. Beard QC, G. Facenna QC, J. Eadie QC and S. Ford, Barrister, the Belgian Government, by J.-C. Halleux, S. Vanrie and C. Pochet, acting as Agents, the Czech Government, by M. Smolek and J. Vláčil, acting as Agents, the Danish Government, by C. Thorning and M. Wolff, acting as Agents, the German Government, by T. Henze, M. Hellmann and J. Kemper, acting as Agents, and by M. Kottmann and U. Karpenstein, Rechtsanwalte, the Estonian Government, by K. Kraavi-Käerdi, acting as Agent, Ireland, by E. Creedon, L. Williams and A. Joyce, acting as Agents, and by D. Fennelly BL, the Spanish Government, by A. Rubio González, acting as Agent, the French Government, by G. de Bergues, D. Colas, F.-X. Bréchot and C. David, acting as Agents, the Cypriot Government, by K. Kleanthous, acting as Agent, the Hungarian Government, by M. Fehér and G. Koós, acting as Agents, curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=186492&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=1088733 1/16