A ‘necessary and limited development’ of the data retention case law, or its death by a thousand cuts? Sitting as a full Court, the ECJ greenlights retention of IP addresses to fight non-serious crime in Case C-470/21 La Quadrature du Net and Others (Personal data and action to combat counterfeiting)

Abstract

This case comment analyses Case C-470/21 La Quadrature du Net and Others (Personal data and action to combat counterfeiting) (‘LDQN II’), in which the Court of Justice held that EU law does not preclude national law imposing the general and indiscriminate retention by electronic communications service providers of IP addresses for the subsequent use of the relevant public authorities in the fight against copyright infringements online. In a very rare occurrence, the judgment in LQDN II saw the CJEU sitting as a full Court. This case comment examines three potential interrelated reasons for the recourse to a full Court in LQDN II, contextualises the most essential aspects of the Court’s ruling, and critically engages with each of the two Opinions issued by the Advocate General over the course of proceedings. It argues that the ramifications of the judgment in LDQN II, coupled with its sister judgment in Bolzano, issued on the same day, are likely to reach well beyond copyright to influence the future of criminal law enforcement in the EU more broadly, and ultimately the future of anonymity online.