MPs David Davis and Tom Watson have succeeded in their judicial review challenging the data retention powers in section 1 of DRIPA—the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014.
The legislation that was fast-tracked through Parliament to plug a gap left when the Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC was annulled by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the Digital Rights Ireland case [2014] 2 All ER (Comm) 1. The CJEU found that it interfered with rights under Arts 7 and 8 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, corresponding to Art 8 ECHR. However, DRIPA broadly replicated the Data Retention Directive regime.
Nicholas Griffin QC, of 5 Paper Buildings, said: “It is not that surprising that it has been successfully challenged in the High Court under human rights and EU law on similar grounds as led the CJEU to strike down the Directive.
“The High Court held that the claimants were entitled to a declaration that s 1, DRIPA is inconsistent with EU law. The government has until March 2016 to replace the offending provisions. Interestingly, the Act contained a sunset clause, which meant the data retention provisions would have expired at the end of 2016 in any event.”
The government has been granted leave to appeal.
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