Supreme Court Confirms: Mass Storage of Communication Data in the Czech Republic Violates EU Law

The Czech law on the mass storage of electronic communication data, according to the Supreme Court, violates EU law in the long term and in a particularly serious manner.

The Supreme Court (Nejvyšší soud) dismissed the appeal of the Czech Republic – represented by the Ministry of Industry and Trade – in the dispute with journalist Jan Cibulka. The Court thereby confirmed that the Czech regulation on mass storage of electronic communication data violates EU law in the long term and in a particularly serious manner.

The judges noted that the Czech provision on retaining connection and location data (§ 97(3) of the Electronic Communications Act) conflicts with EU requirements. It mandates preventive, non-selective storage of data from virtually all users of electronic communications. The scope and type of data stored allow conclusions to be drawn about the private lives of those affected.

Legal safeguards for mass data storage, which should be subject to judicial oversight, are absent in the Czech regulation. The Supreme Court considers this a serious infringement of the right to privacy and informational self-determination. The Court also reaffirmed that the state is liable for material and immaterial damages resulting from the faulty implementation of EU directives.

Court Affirms Right to Privacy and Protection of Personal Data

At the centre of the long-running legal dispute was a journalist from Czech Radio. The case arose from the incorrect implementation of the EU Directive on Privacy in Electronic Communications, after the journalist had unsuccessfully attempted to have the traffic and location data held by his mobile operator deleted.

The Court granted the claimant an apology “for the prolonged violation of his rights to the protection of privacy and of his personal data.”

The Senate had already reached its decision at the end of last year; the ruling (Case No. 30 Cdo 2556/2025) was published on Thursday and will be available on the Supreme Court’s electronic notice board and in the Court building until 23 January 2026. It will subsequently be permanently accessible in anonymised form in the Supreme Court’s public database (www.nsoud.cz).