Access to telecommunication data in Poland: Specific problems and general conclusions

September 17, 2014 - by Katarzyna Szymielewicz and Anna Walkowiak.

Poland, as a member state of the European Union, was obliged to introduce mandatory telecommunication data retention as part of the implementation of the so­ called Data Retention Directive. However, when implementing the directive, Poland failed to introduce rules regarding the use of telecommunication data for law enforcement purposes. As a result, such information – collected about every person using telecommunication services in Poland – is used even in the prosecution of common crimes (like theft) and for the sake of crime prevention. Moreover, Polish law does not provide for any safeguards that would prevent abuses, such as an external supervisory mechanism, court oversight, the obligation to inform the person concerned about the use of his or her data or the obligation to destroy data after the end of proceedings.