(1) 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 (3) requires Member States to protect the rights and freedoms of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data, and in particular
their right to privacy, in order to ensure the free flow of personal data in the Community. 

(2) 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) (4) translates the principles set out in Directive 95/46/EC into specific rules for the electronic communications sector. 

(3) Articles 5, 6 and 9 of Directive 2002/58/EC lay down the rules applicable to the processing by network and service
providers of traffic and location data generated by using electronic communications services. Such data must be erased or made anonymous when no longer needed for the purpose of the transmission of a communication, except for the data necessary for billing or interconnection payments.
Subject to consent, certain data may also be processed for marketing purposes and the provision of value-added
services. 

(4) Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58/EC sets out the conditions under which Member States may restrict the scope of
the rights and obligations provided for in Article 5, Article 6, Article 8(1), (2), (3) and (4), and Article 9 of that Directive. Any such restrictions must be necessary, appropriate and proportionate within a democratic society for specific public order purposes, i.e. to safeguard national security (i.e. State security), defence, public security or the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences or of unauthorised use of the electronic communications systems. 

(5) Several Member States have adopted legislation providing for the retention of data by service providers for the prevention,
investigation, detection, and prosecution of criminal offences. Those national provisions vary considerably. 

(6) The legal and technical differences between national provisions concerning the retention of data for the purpose of prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences present obstacles to the internal market for electronic communications, since service providers are faced with different requirements regarding the types of traffic and location data to be retained and the conditions and periods of retention.

Nota AvocatNet: Numai legislatia europeana din editia printata a Jurnalului Oficial al Uniunii Europene poate fi considerata autentica