In a press release, the court remarked, “To consider that only the fight against serious crime is capable of justifying access to data contained in a mobile telephone would unduly limit the investigative powers of the competent authorities.”

“Such a limitation on police powers would mean an “increased risk of impunity for criminal offenses,” the court said

The court ruled that access to mobile phone data must be subject to a prior review by a court of independent authority except in the most urgent cases, according to international media report.

The case came from Austria, where an unnamed person sued the police for seizing his phone after he received a parcel containing 85 grams of cannabis.

In an analysis of the case published last year, Digital rights organization EDRi said that mobile phone data is “particularly problematic because there is no technical way to limit police access to a particular piece of information on the device.”