French Court of Cassation applies C-670/22: device infiltration abroad must be notified under Art. 31

In a judgment of 17 June 2025, published in the Bulletin, the Criminal Chamber of the French Court of Cassation applied CJEU C-670/22 (EncroChat) to a real-time data capture installed on a suspect's mobile phone. Infiltrating a device to collect communication, traffic and location data is an interception of telecommunications within the meaning of Art. 31 Directive 2014/41/EU. Where the phone is located in another Member State while the capture runs, that State must be notified. In this case the appeal was dismissed, because two European Investigation Orders issued by the investigating judge had served as notification to Spain and the Czech Republic and neither State objected. The ruling confirms that the notification duty applies to device-based surveillance generally and supports challenges in EncroChat and SkyECC cases where no notification was made.