( September 3, 2026, 08:25 GMT | Official Statement) -- MLex Summary: A Belgian law that requires telecom providers to keep user data for 12 months is in violation of EU privacy regulation, unless there are strict conditions to protect individuals' privacy, according to a non-binding opinion by the EU’s highest court issued on Thursday. The “data retention law,” opposed by several human rights groups, requires companies to save all traffic and location information to counter crime. Advocate General Maciej Szpunar said the regulation would need to ensure “genuinely watertight separation" of data, ensuring no precise conclusions about people’s private lives could be drawn, for it to be in line with EU law. The Advocate General's Opinion is attached. The case reference is C-661/24 Académie Fiscale and Others....
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