On Thursday, September 2, 2021, the Irish Data Protection Commission (“DPC”) published its decision in the long-awaited inquiry it initiated into the data processing of WhatsApp Ireland Limited (“WhatsApp”) in December 2018. It finds against WhatsApp, imposing a fine of €225 million.
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Marie Daly
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Ireland’s Joint Committee on Justice Publishes Recommendations to Reform the Irish Data Protection Commission
By Marie Daly on
On Jul 22, 2021, the Irish Joint Committee on Justice (“Committee“) published a report that included a series of recommendations on the work of the Irish Data Protection Commission (“DPC“). The Committee, made up of 14 politicians from across the political spectrum and drawn from both the Dáil (the elected first house) and Seanad (the senate), issued this report following a public hearing held on April 27, 2021 (see our prior blog post here). The recommendations in the report address, among other things, concerns raised about the Irish DPC’s oversight and enforcement of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR“).
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New Standard Contractual Clauses Raise Questions Under Irish Law
By Marie Daly on
The new standard contractual clauses (“SCCs“) issued by the European Commission (see our prior blog post here) continue to prove controversial. Among other things, the SCCs require that the law of the European Union (“EU“) Member State underpinning them provides third-party beneficiary rights. Most EU Member States are civil law jurisdictions that already provide such rights. Ireland, however, is a common law jurisdiction like the U.S. and the UK, and as such, depends largely on evolving case law to define the scope of various rights and obligations.…
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Major Cyber-attack on Irish Health System Causes Commercial Concern
By Marie Daly on
On May 20, 2021, there was a major ransomware attack on the Irish health system. The centralized HSE (Health Service Executive), which provides and manages healthcare for the Irish population, was targeted on May 14 and has seen significant disruption since. It has described the attack as a ‘zero-day threat with a brand new variant of the Conti ransomware.’
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Irish Parliamentary Committee Hearing Discusses Criticism of the Irish DPC
By Marie Daly on
On April 27, 2021, the Irish Oireachtas Committee on Justice met in Dublin to consider recent written submissions received criticising the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC). The meeting was divided into two hour-long meetings with the first meeting devoted to the criticisms of Max Schrems, the Austrian privacy campaigner, and Fred Logue, an Irish data protection lawyer. The second meeting, the longer of the two, heard from Helen Dixon, the Data Protection Commissioner, and the Irish Council of Civil Liberties.
Ten politicians, including the Chair (a lawyer with data law experience), questioned each of the invitees on what was a limited agenda. Each participant was limited to a five minute opening statement after which member politicians attending queried them. Discussion of ongoing cases was not permitted.
The Committee scheduled Mr. Schrems and Ms. Dixon on separate panels, presumably to avoid a repeat of Ms. Dixon’s objection to the previous invitation from the European Parliament’s LIBE Committee proposing to hear from both together at the same hearing. Each in turn were the key participants in their panel discussions. Mr. Schrems repeated criticisms he has made previously and Ms. Dixon gave a strong defence of her office.…
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