EU Data Retention Directive European Court of Justice calls data retention directive off Monika Ermert, Heise, Intellectual Property Watch, VDI-Nachrichten PUBLISHED ON: 8 Apr 2014 The European Court of Justice today decided against the EU legislator and declared the data retention directive of 2006 null and void. A historic judgement, many parties say, and it means that implementations have to be rolled back all over Europe.