European Union – Data protection. Article 15(1) of Directive (EC) 2002/58, as amended, read in the light of arts 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, should be interpreted as meaning that the access of public authorities to data for the purpose of identifying the owners of SIM cards activated with a stolen mobile telephone, such as the surnames, forenames and, if need be, addresses of the owners, entailed interference with their fundamental rights, enshrined in those articles of the Charter, which was not sufficiently serious to entail that access being limited, in the area of prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences, to the objective of fighting serious crime. The Court of Justice of the European Union so held in proceedings concerning the refusal of the Spanish Court of Preliminary Investigation to grant the police access to personal data retained by providers of electronic communication services.