PS and PSD suggest that metadata should only be retained for investigative purposes “with court approval.”

PS and PSD have reached agreement on new common metadata text that stipulates that traffic and location data will only be retained in cases where “reasonable judicial authorization” has been obtained.

This text will be considered this Wednesday in parliament and voted on Friday. It aims to overcome a December declaration by the Constitutional Court (CC) that a decree regulating access to communications metadata for the purposes of criminal investigations was unconstitutional.

In the new text, which Lusa had access to, the PS and PSD state that “traffic and location data may only be retained on the basis of a justified judicial authorization” for the purposes of “the investigation, detection and suppression of serious crimes by competent authorities.” authorities”.

This judicial dispensation is responsible for “the formation of the criminal sections of the Supreme Court, consisting of the chairmen of the sections and a judge appointed by the Supreme Council of the Judiciary from among the oldest of these sections.” It belongs.

In cases authorized by the court, the text states that data “may only be retained for a period exceeding six months” after receiving a new judicial authorization.

To ensure the security of the “formulation of the retention request and processing of the authorization” in question, PS and PSD propose that traffic data cannot be “subject to deletion within two weeks of the date of completion of the communication.” and this period may be extended until a final decision on its conservation is made.”

Outside of these provisions is traffic and location data stored by “public electronic communications service providers or public communications networks.”

These data continue to be stored “under the conditions specified in the contract with the customer for purposes arising from the relevant commercial legal relationship or by virtue of a special legal provision”, although the entities in question cannot access them “except in cases provided for under law” or defined in the contract.

This is the second time that PS and PSD have agreed in this legislature to produce joint text on metadata; the last of these was approved in a final global vote in Parliament on 13 October and rejected by the Constitutional Court (CC) on 4 December. . .

In this latest text, PS and PSD proposed storing traffic and location data in general for three months, with the possibility of extending this period for a further three months if customers expressly object.

The TC considered that this provision went beyond “the limits of proportionality in limiting fundamental rights,” emphasizing that the retention of metadata, regardless of period, should be limited and not generalized.

Earlier, on April 12, 2022, the Labor Code declared the norms of the so-called Metadata Law unconstitutional. This 2008 law transposed into the national legal system the 2006 European Directive, which the Court of Justice of the European Union declared invalid in 2014.

Metadata is contextual data that, without revealing the content of messages, allows us to determine, for example, who made the call, from which site, with which recipient and for how long.