S Liashamreen, Cooperative School of Law, Thodupuzha, Affiliated by MG University
[Schrems II, 2020 EU:C:2020:559]
DECIDED ON 16 JULY, 2022
PRIMARY DETAILS
Forum / Court Court of Justice, European Union
Equivalent Citations Data Protection Commissioner v. Facebook Ireland Limited and Maximillian Schrems , Schrems II, 2020 EU:C:2020:559
Date of Decision 16.07.2022
FACTUAL BACKGROUND OF THE CASE
After privacy activist Maximillian Schrems reformulated his complaint to the Data Protection Commissioner, the Irish High Court heard "Data Protection Commissioner v. Facebook Ireland Limited and Maximillian Schrems." Schrems argued that Facebook's standard data protection clauses (SCCs) were insufficient to ensure essentially equivalent data protections. The case was titled "Data Protection Commissioner v. Facebook Ireland Limited and Maximillian Schrems." Schrems said that in accordance with US law, Facebook was required to offer US security agencies like the NSA and FBI access to the personal data that it obtained, which rendered the SCCs useless. The Irish High Court looked at US intelligence activities as well as other potential reasons for rejecting data transfers between the US and the EU. The court found that Section 702 of the FISA Act and Executive Order 12333 provide permission for PRISM and UPSTREAM to conduct surveillance on individuals outside the United States. The High Court expressed concern about the lack of significant protections for non-US nationals provided by US law and noted that residents of EU countries did not have access to the legal remedies provided by the Fourth Amendment. The court also questioned Facebook's justification of the SCCs and noted that the Privacy Shield Framework, which the Commission had established to offer acceptable data safeguards for EU citizen data, was still insufficient to provide EU legal protections. The court's reasoning was that the Commission had established the Privacy Shield Framework to offer acceptable data safeguards for EU citizen data. As a direct result of this, the Irish High Court addressed various questions about the legitimacy of the SCC and the protections afforded by EU personal data legislation to the ECJ. Before considering such issues, the ECJ first addressed the objections that were brought up by Facebook as well as the governments of Germany and the United Kingdom regarding the admissibility of the case and the development of the record. However, the European Court of Justice decided that the referral may proceed in accordance with the regulations that were in place at the time and that sufficient evidence had been presented to make a decision on each of the issues.
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