Retention period: The proposal leaves it to member state government to decide on the duration of storage, within a 6-month to two-year timeframe.
Types of data: The Council voted for an obligation to retain data on internet access, internet e-mail and internet telephony.
Unsuccessful calls: The Council is in favour of including the retention of data concerning unsuccessful call attempts where that data is already stored by providers. There will be no obligation to store additional data in relation to unconnected calls.
Definition of "serious criminal offences" for the investigation of which stored data may be accessed: The Council leaves it to the member states to define these offences.
Costs: Under the proposal, telecommunication and internet providers would have to store the data without reimbursement. Individual member states could however decide to reimburse their countries' companies. Some countries' governments, like Germany's, have already declared that they will not pay for the data storage.
