Court of Appeal declaration on retention of communications data (Watson MP and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department)

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of the decision?
• What was the background?
• What did the Court of Appeal decide?

Article summary

Information Law analysis: Jessica Simor QC, of Matrix Chambers, examines the Court of Appeal’s decision to grant declaratory relief to the effect that, in connection with the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences, the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 (DRIPA 2014) was inconsistent with EU law in permitting access to retained communications data where the objective was not restricted solely to fighting serious crime, or the access was not subject to prior review by a court or an independent administrative authority.