The Czech authorities are currently in a debate with telecommunication companies over the exact amounts they will have to pay to reimburse the costs related to the new data retention legislation that came into force at the middle of the last year. The Czech republic already adopted data retention legislation in the middle of 2005, in anticipation of new EU legislation. It stipulates a maximum period of data retention for 12 months. An ordinance of the Czech telecommunication authority (CTÚ) established, in the middle of December 2005, the minimum retention period of 3-6 months for different types of data. The special CTÚ ordinance stipulates the price of each "service" of transmitting data from the operators to the Czech police and the other security agencies.
According to a report on the popular TV station Nova, the Czech police owed around 300 million Czech Crowns (approx. 10 million Euro) to the operators for their services related to tapping and transmitting telecommunication data for the for the last 6 months of 2005. In addition to that sum Pravo Daily reported that the counterintelligence service (BIS) owed the operators 18 million Czech Crowns (approx. 0.6 million Euro) for tapping the conversation during the same period. Spokesmen of the Czech police and BIS refused to present the exact amounts currently under discussion with the operators. "It is not only about payments for services but also reimbursements of necessary investments are discussed," said Jan Subert, spokesman of BIS. "BIS will probably pay some millions in the next few years for investments and the payments for services will not exceed hundreds of millions," predicted Subert. According to Jakub Hrabovský, spokesman of telephony operator Vodafone negotiations will be concluded by the end of March.
More information about this dispute (Czech only)
http://www.iure.org
Czech Telecommunication Office
http://www.ctu.cz/main.php?pageid=178
(Contribution by Filip Pospísil, EDRi-member Iuridicum Remedium - Czech Republic)