VPNs with servers in Andorra

Andorran law obliges cooperation with judges and courts in investigating crime. Under articles 47 and 87 of the Criminal Procedure Code the investigating judge takes the steps needed to establish the facts and, in major crime, may order telephone interceptions.

The qualified Law 15/2003 on personal data excluded the investigation of criminal offences from its scope (art. 5). It was repealed by Law 29/2021 of 28 October 2021, whose article 2 likewise excludes processing by competent authorities for the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences. The Court addressed the national operator only; whether a VPN operator is bound is not established.

Article 325 of the Penal Code, on crimes against the prestige of the institutions, punishes public imputations about the Consell General, the Govern, the courts, the prosecution or the comuns that may harm their prestige, known to be false or recklessly made, with a fine of up to EUR 30,000 and disqualification from public office for up to four years, the upper half applying where the media or the internet are used.

In December 2022 the Consell General voted against repealing it.

A judge indicted a person under article 325 in October 2022, after charges of slander with publicity (art. 172) and slander against the co-princes (art. 320) were dropped in 2021.

The 2014 ruling rejected the constitutional appeal in full. An investigating judge had requested the data by an order of 30 August 2012, for a defined period ending less than a year before, and article 15 permits interference by reasoned judicial order. Whether the retention rules had sufficient rank could be raised only through a direct or incidental challenge, which this appeal was not.

The European Commission lists Andorra among the countries whose data protection it recognises as adequate. The order of the rows is the security score, and a server’s location is not a recommendation.