How wide is the margin for Member States to deviate from the requirements of the Directive for the purpose of national security, defense and investigation and prevention of crime ?
Article 15(1) of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive allows Member States to restrict certain rights and obligations as included in the directive (namely confidentiality of communications, limitations on the processing of traffic and location data and withholding of calling line identification) provided that such restrictions a) are based on national legislative acts (e.g. restrictions cannot be based on voluntary agreements or on ministerial guidelines etc.) , b) are necessary to safeguard national security, defense, public security or are necessary for the investigation or prevention of crime or of unauthorized use of electronic communication systems (e.g. general tax purposes are not an acceptable ground for restrictions in this context) and c) constitute an appropriate and proportionate measure within a democratic society. These criteria are directly derived from case law established by the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Article 8 of the European Conve
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