Court of Justice judgment · Case C-511/18

La Quadrature du Net and Others v Premier ministre and Others (joined cases C-511/18, C-512/18 and C-520/18)

Reviewed by Sergio Maldonado Elvira on 29 October 2026

Case: C-511/18
Court: Court of Justice
Date of judgment: 6 October 2020
ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:2020:791
Instrument: Mainly the ePrivacy Directive 2002/58; the GDPR is relied on only for one question
Provisions: Article 23(1)

Listed under "Related (earlier law or other instruments)": this judgment concerns earlier law or another instrument, not the GDPR alone.

Holding (summary, not the official text)

National laws may not require general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data as a preventive measure, subject to narrow exceptions (national security threats, IP addresses, civil identity, expedited retention under judicial control).

Checked against the official source on 28 October 2026.

Only the judgment as published by the Court of Justice is authoritative. This is reference material, not legal advice.

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