Schrems settles action over DPC Facebook probe

A HIGH Court judge has said he will give judgment as soon as possible on Facebook’s challenge to the Data Protection Commissioner’s (DPC) draft decision to inquire into, and suspend, data transfers by Facebook Ireland to the US.

The DPC probe and the suspension, remain stayed pending Mr Justice David Barniville’s judgment.

A separate action by privacy and data rights activist Max Schrems which was also aimed at halting the probe, for very different reasons, was due for hearing at the Commercial Court yesterday but the court was told it had been resolved.

Mr Schrems took his action because he was concerned the DPC was engaged in a process that might affect the investigation and outcome of his own complaints about Facebook’s handling of his personal data.

The Austrian lawyer claimed the DPC’s own volition inquiry had the effect of suspending the DPC’s investigation into his complaints, originally made in 2013 and reformulated in 2015, and breaches his rights to be heard.

He also claimed the DPC’s own volition inquiry would fail to examine certain bases upon which Facebook is trying to rely on to legitimise EU-US data transfers.

The resolution of his proceedings over the DPC’s own volition inquiry was reached yesterday on the basis of correspondence exchanged between lawyers for the DPC and Mr Schrems concerning how his complaint will be addressed.

The only outstanding issue in his proceedings relates to legal costs and the sides have agreed the costs issues can be decided by Mr Justice Barniville following the delivery of his judgment in Facebook’s case.

Facebook initiated those proceedings last August after the DPC informed Facebook Ireland of her preliminary draft decision that personal data should not be transferred out of the EU to its American parent Facebook Inc.