A case that could settle whether Facebook could continue to send EU citizens’ data to the U.S. should be referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the Irish Government on Tuesday argued as deliberations begun in Dublin High Court.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner brought the case to the court following legal challenge by Austrian data privacy activist Max Schrems, who argued that the data commissioner should order Facebook to suspend sending of data to the U.S.
The Irish data commissioner wanted the court to request an ECJ ruling on the validity of the EU-approved “standard contractual clauses” (SCCs) for transfer of data outside the EU.
“Mr Schrems was concerned that because his personal data was being transferred from FB to its U.S. parent company Facebook Inc, his personal data was then being accessed unlawfully by U.S. State Security agencies,” the commissioner said ahead of the hearing, set to run for three weeks.
A separate legal challenge by Schrems resulted in European Commission ending its former Safe Harbour data protection framework in 2015 and replacing it with a new Privacy Shield, one that includes the SCCs.
Schrems said he then reformulated his complaint in Ireland, where Facebook had its European headquarters, claiming that the new EU rules allowed national governments to suspend data flows if the recipient was subject to surveillance laws that “violate EU’s fundamental rights to privacy.”
In deciding whether to refer the case to the ECJ, the High Court was expected to focus on the issue of whether U.S. surveillance laws violated EU citizens’ privacy rights. (dpa/NAN)