Agreement reached on controversial Data Retention Directive

Under the Data Retention Directive, the government must store citizens' telecommunications data from six to 24 months, and allow police and security agencies access to the information.

The Conservative Party (Høyre) and Prime Minister Stoltenberg’s Labor Party (AP) have reached agreement on including the controversial EU Data Retention Directive in Norwegian law.

Høyre obtained acceptance for its view that data storage time be limited to a maximum of six months, and a strict control with storage facilities.

The other political parties see the directive as contravening privacy laws and the proposal has sparked opposition from many quarters.

However, if Norway was to veto the EU on this issue, it is feared that this may force a renegotiation of Norway’s trade agreement with the EU, the so-called EEA agreement.

According to the directive, member states will have to store citizens’ telecommunications data for a period of six to 24 months, allowing the police and security agencies to request access to details such as IP address and time of use of every e-mail, phone call and text message sent or received. However, a request to access the information will be granted only with a court order.

The EU introduced the Data Retention Directive in 2006 as a tool in the fight against terrorism.

Source: The Norway Post