Facebook Appeals Order From Irish Data Protection Commission

In August 2020, the Irish Data Protection Commission (the "DPC") issued a preliminary order to Facebook requiring Facebook to suspend data transfers to the U.S. that involve personal data of EU residents. This is the DPC's first action to enforce the Schrems II  ruling issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU").

Schrems II Decision

The Schrems II decision issued in July 2020, invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield, which many businesses were relying on to comply with GDPR Article 45 to transfer personal data outside of the EU. Notably, the decision was effective immediately, and did not provide for a grace period to implement an alternative approved cross-border transfer mechanism. The decision did bring into question whether Standard Contractual Clauses ("SCCs") provide adequate protection for cross-border transfers of personal data, but it did not invalidate the SCCs.