A 152 page judgment was rendered on October 3, 2017 by the Irish High Court in Schrems II: DPC v Facebook Final.
Nor surprisingly, the court decided to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union to make a decision about the validity of the three decisions issued by the Commission for the Standard Contractual Clauses. The court also referred a question to the CJEU about the Privacy Shield’s Ombudsperson.
Ms. Justice Caroline Costello referred these issues because she concurred with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner’s view there are “well founded” grounds for believing the European Commission decisions approving data transfer channels known as Standard Contractual Clauses are invalid. She added that it is “extremely important” there be uniformity in the application of the relevant European Directive throughout the EU “on this very important issue” and that there be “consistency and clarity.” For those reasons, she considered a reference was necessary and appropriate.
Based on past history, it could be well over a year until the CJEU rules on this matter.
