Hungary Data Retention 2015
Privacy International challenged the compatibility of the Hungarian Electronic Communications Act with EU law in an intervention before the Hungarian Constitutional Court.
Photo by Sebastian Pichler on Unsplash
Case name: Dalma Dojcsak v Telenor Magyarország Zrt
Court: Hungarian Constitutional Court
Application no.: III./537/2015
Status: Open
On 8 April 2015, Privacy International and Open Rights Group (ORG) filed an intervention before the Hungarian Constitutional Court in a case brought by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) against two major service providers in an attempt to repeal the Hungarian Electronic Communications Act.
The claim concerned the extensive data retention powers contained in Article 159A of the Electronic Communications Act, which required telecommunications service providers to retain a wide range of metadata arising from the use of fixed line and mobile telephones, internet access, and email by subscribers. This included, among others, the user's personal data, the date and duration of any communication, the IMEI and IMSI numbers of parties to any mobile communication, as well as cell site information capable of identifying the geolocation of mobile phone users.
Privacy International and ORG argued that the provisions of the Act were contrary to EU law and in particular, in breach of the Data Protection Directive 1995/46 and the Directive on privacy and electronic communications 2002/58/EC, in that they failed to comply with fundamental requirements of proportionality.