On 28 September 2023, Advocate General Szpunar ("AG") issued his final conclusions on Case C-470/21 (La Quadrature du Net, Fédération des fournisseurs d'accès à Internet associatifs, Franciliens.net, French Data Network v Premier ministre, Ministère de la Culture) regarding the protection of the personal data of online copyright infringers. Notably, after the AG's previous conclusions of 27 October 2022, the case was referred to the full Court which reopened the proceedings and invited the interested parties to take part. Following the new hearing, the AG proposed that the EU Court of Justice rules that Directive (EU) 2002/58/CE of 12 July 2002 (on the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector) does not preclude national legislation permitting an administrative authority entrusted with copyright protection to have access, under certain conditions, to personal data retained by internet service providers. More specifically, IP addresses enabling the identification of perpetrators of copyright infringements committed exclusively on the internet may be processed by national authorities, provided that such data are the only means of investigation that make it possible to identify the suspected infringers.
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