Dutch court seeks justification for number-plate data retention

The Hague Court of Appeal has asked the Dutch state to justify its automatic number-plate recognition scheme in a case brought by privacy group Privacy First. In an interim ruling on 29 September, the court said the state had not sufficiently shown why the intrusion on privacy was necessary. It postponed decisions on the scheme’s overall necessity, proportionality and whether a less intrusive approach would work. [1] [2]

Under the scheme, number-plate data can be kept for four weeks. At least 1,176 locations in the Netherlands have one or more cameras using the technology. The court has already found two shortcomings in the privacy safeguards: camera-location decisions need independent supervision, and access to stored data needs prior review by a judicial body or another sufficiently independent administrative authority. It said the Public Prosecution Service does not meet that independence requirement. [1] [2]

The judges want verifiable evidence of how often the data have made a substantial difference to investigations, why four weeks’ retention is needed and whether less intrusive arrangements would significantly reduce their investigative value. A 2021 evaluation cited in an earlier judgment found the data decisive in some cases, usually alongside other investigative methods; the appeal court said that evaluation was insufficient to establish the scheme’s present necessity. The court also found monitoring of access logs inadequate and asked for details of promised improvements. [2] [3]