Statutory Requirements for Communications Service Providers to Decrypt Online Communications Impair the Essence of Article 8 ECHR

On 13 February 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued a judgment in the case Podchasov v Russia. In particular, the ECtHR emphasised the crucial role played by (end-to-end) encryption in upholding human rights, such as the right to privacy and freedom of expression, against the background of statutory decryption orders. This case note analyses the judgment, also with a view to casting a critical light on the on-going legal debate on legislative proposals in the EU aiming to weakening (directly or inderectly) encryption.