Estonia: Illegal collection of telecom data to continue

Estonia continues to collect telecommunication data from its citizens despite it being against EU law and the constitution, ERR reports. The European Court of Justice and Estonia’s Supreme Court have concluded that the data collection is illegal. The data include detailed records from telecommunications and internet service providers, which the EU court argues infringes on privacy rights. In response to the Supreme Court ruling, Estonia amended the law to require court permission for data access instead of prosecutor authorisation, resulting in a significant decrease in data access requests. However, the Ministry of Justice has no plans to further amend the law, leaving telecommunications companies seeking legal clarity on compliance with EU law.