On February 10, 2009, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in Ireland v. Parliament and Council (Case C-301/06) that the Data Retention Directive (Directive 2006/24/EC) had been correctly adopted on the basis of the first pillar (European Community – EC Treaty), as it relates predominantly to the functioning of the internal market. Ireland sought annulment of the Directive on the ground that it should have been based on the EU’s third pillar (relating to police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters) and was therefore not founded on the appropriate legal basis. The judgement is available here