CJEU: Hearing in Case C-498/16 Schrems on Wednesday 19th July 2017 (Facebook – data protection – privacy rights)
Source: CJEU Between 2011 and 2013, Mr Schrems brought a number of complaints against Facebook Ireland before the Irish Data Protection Commissioner which led to a reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union in relation to the European Commission’s ‘Safe Harbour’ Decision (Case C-632/14 ). Mr Schrems has now filed a class action against Facebook Ireland for breaches of Austrian, Irish and European privacy rules. He claims that certain clauses in the contracts entered into between Facebook Ireland Ltd, a subsidiary of the US company Facebook Inc., and Facebook users, are invalid on the basis of EU law governing consumer contracts. Facebook Ireland argues that Mr Schrems cannot rely on the jurisdiction over consumer contracts because at the time he concluded his contract with Facebook Ireland he was using the social media site for commercial purposes. In addition, Mr Schrems cannot use the jurisdiction over consumer contracts for assigned claims on be