European Union: CJEU Strikes Down CSAR and Interoperability Regulations in Two Landmark Decisions

This contribution sets out a fictitious scenario in which the Court of Justice of the European Union hands down two important judgments regarding legislative measures in the year 2033. Those legislative measures chosen for the scenario are on the one hand, an imagined Regulation on preventing and combatting child sexual abuse online and, on the other, two Regulations establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems. The imaginary judgments, as put in the contribution, should be seen as landmark decisions as the Court scrutinised the existence of a continuous necessity of the laws in question in light of the relevant changes that took place since their adoption. In addition, the Court’s reasoning to declare void the above legislative measures, in both judgments, relied on the same proportionality assessment formula that already served as reference for similar decisions in the recent past. This contribution will briefly highlight the relevant aspects of the laws that were struck down by the Court, summarise the main developments that had an impact on the matters regulated by those laws and reiterate the main arguments found by the Court. The conclusion emphasises the importance of balancing different fundamental rights and interests in order to achieve an equilibrium between privacy and security.