German Data Retention Decision: Early Analysis

The latest issue of the German Law Journal contains what may be the first academic analysis of the Bundesverfassungsgericht decision in the data retention case – previously discussed here. The article, entitled ‘Pitting Karlsruhe Against Luxembourg? German Data Protection and the Contested Implementation of the EU Data Retention Directive’ by Christian DeSimone offers a historical overview of data protection in Germany and a discussion of the adoption of the Data Retention Directive and its implementation in Germany. There is also some brief discussion of the BVerfG decision. As no English translation of the decision is available to date, it is not possible to comment on the usefulness of the analysis of the BVerfG decision. However, the article contains a beautifully succinct comment on the reasons for the adoption of the EU law as a Directive rather than a Framework Decision: “The politics of legislative process trumped legal orthodoxy”. The article is available for free and the full citation is [2010] 11(3) German Law Journal 291.