The Supreme Court will examine whether police can access telecommunications data held by providers for commercial or billing purposes when investigating and prosecuting serious criminal offences.

A Supreme Court judge ruled that the matter was of “exceptional significance and importance” and could affect a large number of cases.

In a decision dated September 11, the Supreme Court, sitting as a single judge, referred an application seeking to overturn a Limassol district court order granting access to the applicants’ telecommunications data to the full bench of the Supreme Court.

The case concerns an order issued by the Limassol district court in March, allowing access to telecommunications data belonging to the applicants. They challenged the legality of the order and, in May, obtained permission from the Supreme Court to file an application seeking its annulment.

According to the ruling, both sides requested that the application be heard by the full bench, citing “the seriousness of the legal issues raised”, the “large number of cases that will be affected by the outcome”, as well as differing decisions issued by single Supreme Court judges in cases involving similar questions.

At the heart of the case is whether, in light of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, access can be granted to data retained by telecommunications providers for another purpose, namely “commercial/billing purposes”, when that data is subsequently sought for the investigation and prosecution of serious criminal offences.

In referring the matter to the full bench, the judge agreed that the arguments put forward by lawyers justified “the collective consideration and judgment of the full bench of the Supreme Court”.

The ruling added that consideration by the full bench would also strengthen the binding effect of the eventual decision