We don’t have an official judgement yet, but based on the live tweeting of Max Schrems, and the swift reporting of the Irish Times, we can update you that the Irish High Court have not made an order nor given any guidelines to the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (the DPC) on how to investigate Mr Schrems’ complaint, as the DPC has voluntarily committed to investigating quickly and following fair procedures under Irish and EU law.
Lawyers on behalf of Mr Schrems’ were keen to insist that the investigation be a speedy one, and not unnecessarily delayed in order to allow a political agreement on a new form of Safe Harbor to be agreed in the interim.
The DPC had originally found Mr Schrems’ complaint to be frivolous and vexatious and doomed to fail. However, today it was made clear that this was only on the basis that the Safe Harbor decision was valid and the DPC felt unable to look behind it. With this barrier removed, there was no dispute the case raised major issues of Irish and EU law.
Facebook had asked to be joined to the case, although it seems there was some debate on this point. Ultimately they were not joined. The DPC has been ordered to pay €10,000 travel costs and €40,000 for legal costs on account.
We are now in the hands of the DPC. The High Court has been very clear to state that nothing in his ruling should be taken as expressing as view on any of the questions – for that we must await the investigation.
Gayle McFarlane, Andre Bywater and Jonathan Armstrong are lawyers with Cordery in London where they focus on regulatory compliance, processes and investigations.
Gayle McFarlane, Cordery, Lexis House, 30 Farringdon Street, London, EC4A 4HH
Office: +44 (0)207 118 2700
André Bywater, Cordery, Lexis House, 30 Farringdon Street, London, EC4A 4HH
Office: +44 (0)207 075 1785
andre.bywater@corderycompliance.com
Jonathan Armstrong, Cordery, Lexis House, 30 Farringdon Street, London, EC4A 4H
Office: +44 (0)207 075 1784
jonathan.armstrong@corderycompliance.com
