Portugal to give investigators access to some data held by telecoms

Nos SGPS SA

26/05/2022 18:35

By Sergio Goncalves
    LISBON, May 26 (Reuters) - Portugal's government approved a
bill on Thursday that would allow judicial authorities access
some customer data stored by telecom operators and sidestep a
pro-privacy court ruling it said hampered investigations of
serious crimes such a terrorism.
    The ruling Socialists have a majority in parliament, meaning
 the bill should be easily approved.
    Last month, the Constitutional Court delivered a blow to the
government by banning the use of an existing single national
database that kept, for a period of one year, data on
telecommunications traffic of all citizens.
    Such data were stored regardless of whether citizens were
suspected of any crime.
    The law that allowed that scheme had been in force since
2007, but the court ruled that it "disproportionately restricted
the right to privacy". The Court of Justice of the European
Union had also ruled that the law was invalid.
    Justice Minister Catarina Sarmento e Castro said that the
court's decision left Portugal without an important means of 
investigating serious crimes, such as terrorism, drug and people
trafficking, which had been the sole purpose of the database.
    "The decisions of the Constitutional Court are to be
complied with. What we're doing now is taking a step forward and
finding a way to access some information, but it's not the
same," she told a news conference.
    "So, we have changed the paradigm and we will (only) allow
the access to the databases that all telecom operators maintain
within the scope of their strict commercial activity," she said,
adding such data were usually preserved for up to six months.

 (Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by David Evans)
 ((sergio.goncalves@thomsonreuters.com; +351213509204; Reuters
Messaging: sergio.goncalves.reuters.com@reuters.net))