Commentaries: Art. 21

The following providers must retain and be able to provide the following data for the duration of and for 6 months following the end of the customer relationship:
1. TSPs and PDCSs with more extensive duties in accordance with Article 22 or 52: the data on the services and the data for the purpose of identification in accordance with Article 19 paragraph 1;
2. TSPs: in addition, data on identifiers assigned on a long-term basis in accordance with Article 48a .
TSPs must retain and be able to provide identification data in accordance with Article 19 paragraph 2 for the duration of and for 6 months following the end of authorisation to access the professionally operated public WLAN hotspot.
They must for the purpose of identification retain the data on the unique assignment of IP addresses for the network access point for 6 months and be able to provide the information in accordance with Article 37.
TSPs that offer mobile services must retain and be able to supply the data on the subscribers in accordance with Articles 20a and 20b and a copy of the proof of identity for the duration of and for 6 months following the end of the customer relationship.
TSPs, with the exception of those with reduced surveillance duties (Art. 51), must retain the following data for the purpose of identification for 6 months:
1. secondary telecommunications data relating to the device identifiers actually used, in order to be able to provide the information specified in Articles 36 paragraph 1 letter b and 41 paragraph 1 letter b number 2;
2. secondary telecommunications data relating to the assignment and translation (NAT) of IP addresses and port numbers for the network access, in order to be able to provide the information specified in Articles 38 and 39; and
3. secondary telecommunications data to determine the networks directly adjacent to a communication or an attempt at communication using telephony and multimedia services in order to be able to provide the information in accordance with Article 48c .
PDCSs with more extensive surveillance duties (Art. 52) must retain the data in accordance with paragraph 5 letters a and b for 6 months for the purpose of identification.
The secondary telecommunications data under paragraph 2 must be destroyed as soon as the retention period has expired, unless other legislation requires or permits such data to be retained for longer.