EU ministers agree data storage deal

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union justice and interior ministers agreed on Friday to require telecoms companies to store phone and email data for a minimum of six months to two years to help fight terrorism.

The agreement is an important step towards implementing common rules across the 25-nation bloc. Currently some member states have no rules at all on data storage, while Ireland, for example, requires records to be kept for 36 months.

The German telecoms industry gave the proposals a cautious welcome, but expressed concerns that it was not mandatory for EU governments to reimburse companies for the costs they may have from the new rules.

"There is an agreement," Danish Justice Minister Lene Espersen told Reuters.

"I am very happy that the EU jointly can send a signal that we take the fight against terrorism very seriously."

The telecoms firms would not store information about the content of phone calls or emails, but only register data such as telephone numbers, the length of calls and email and internet addresses.

The EU has argued for months over what kind of rules to impose. The agreement still needs to be endorsed by the European Parliament, which will vote on the proposals later this month.

Britain, which currently holds the EU presidency, had been determined to broker the deal, meant to help authorities track down militants.

"It is an essential tool for law enforcement," British Home Secretary Charles Clarke told a news conference. "I am confident the European Parliament will also agree this."


Unanswered calls

Telecom companies would also only be forced to store information about unanswered calls or calls where the line is busy if they already do so for billing purposes.

Deutsche Telekom welcomed the decision not to make it obligatory to store so-called unsuccessful calls, which industry sources said could have cost the German telecoms sector hundreds of millions of euros.

"We welcome the fact that storing data on unanswered calls will not be compulsory, since that would have been the most expensive (thing)," said a Deutsche Telekom spokesman.

But the German industry association Bitkom said the new rules could lead to competition distortions because it would be left up to governments to decided whether to reimburse costs.

"The guaranteeing of internal security is a task that belongs to the state. The EU mustprescribe a duty to reimburse companies, to prevent distortions to competition," said Bitkom Director Bernhard Rohleder.

Under the deal, law enforcement agencies would be allowed access to the stored data in investigations into serious crimes. The ministers decided it should be up to EU states to define what serious offences would be covered.

Not all states backed the deal, which was approved by a qualified majority. Slovenia and Slovakia wanted the data storing period to be longer.

Additional reporting by Georgina Prodhan in Frankfurt.

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