The European Data Protection Board ('EDPB') announced, on 28 July 2021, that it had adopted a dispute resolution decision regarding Whatsapp Ireland Limited, on the basis of Article 65(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) ('GDPR'). In particular, the EDPB highlighted that the binding decision seeks to address the lack of consensus on certain aspects of the draft decision issued by the Irish Data Protection Commission ('DPC'), as the lead supervisory authority, and the subsequent objections expressed by supervisory authorities.

Furthermore, the EDPB noted that the draft decision had been issued in response to an inquiry into whether Whatsapp had complied with its transparency obligations under Articles 12, 13, and 14 of the GDPR. In relation to the same, the EDPB outlined that a number of supervisory authorities had issued objections pursuant to Article 60 of the GDPR and that the DPC had been unable to reach consensus, therefore it had referred the matter to the EDPB. As a result, the EDPB adopted its binding decision which addresses the merits of the objections in line with the requirements of Article 4(24) of the GDPR.

Lastly, the EDPB confirmed that it will publish its decision without undue delay after the DPC has notified the national decision to the data controller.

You can read the press release here.