Latest news with #DPC
BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
TikTok asks court to halt suspension of data transfers to China
TikTok is to ask the High Court to halt a suspension of data transfers to China within six months under a decision made in early May by the Data Protection Commission (DPC). On May 2nd, the DPC announced it had made a final decision into its inquiry into the lawfulness of transfers by TikTok Technology Ltd of personal data of users of the TikTok platform to the People's Republic of China from countries in the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes all the EU along with Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Advertisement DPC commissioners Dr Des Hogan and Dale Sunderland found that TikTok infringed the GDPR regarding its transfers and regarding its transparency requirements. The DPC imposed fines totalling €530 million and ordered Tik Tok to bring its processing into compliance within six months, including suspending the transfers to China if this was not done within that timeframe. On Thursday, Emily Egan McGrath SC, for TikTok, told Mr Justice Mark Sanfey her client was seeking that the case be admitted to the fast track Commercial Court as it was an urgent matter. She said the damage the decision will cause to her client "was very significant" and they were looking for an order putting a stay on the suspension of data transfer decision. Advertisement Ireland Dog owner could face jail after 'scared, malnouris... Read More Kelley Smith SC, for the DPC, said there was a significant volume of papers in the case and her side had not had a chance to look at the documents. However, she did not imagine there would be any objection to the application to enter the case into the commercial list. Mr Justice Sanfey said he thought there might not be opposition to the admission to the commercial list but it may be the DPC will take a different tack. He said there were difficulties in relation to fixing a hearing over the stay on the suspension decision in terms of judges being tied up in other cases in coming weeks but he would hear the application to admit the case to the Commercial Court next week.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Shortage of load workers stalls paddy procurement in Trichy
Trichy: Paddy procurement in Trichy district has slowed down due to an acute shortage of load workers at Direct Procurement Centres (DPCs), leaving farmers anxious as their harvested grains lie exposed to rain. Farmers said paddy has remained unsold for days at DPCs, increasing the risk of moisture damage. "I brought four tonnes to the DPC at Pethupatti in Thuraiyur block. It's been lying there for a week without being procured due to the lack of workers," said N Balakrishnan, a farmer from Mangalamputhur village. The Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC), which operates DPCs, aims to procure 15,000 metric tonnes of Navarai (summer) paddy from around 1,000 hectares in the district. Eight temporary centres have been opened for the season. While farmers prefer selling to the government at the Minimum Support Price—Rs 2,450 per quintal for fine varieties and Rs 2,405 for common ones—the lack of workers has brought operations to a crawl. Load workers are essential for weighing, bagging, and loading the grain. "There's a labour shortage. Local workers are unwilling to work at DPCs, so we've hired North Indian labourers," said G Chitrarasu, TNCSC regional manager. With intermittent rains over the past few weeks, farmers fear that the moisture content in their paddy may rise above the 17% limit set by TNCSC for full payment. Between 17% and 20%, payment is cut; beyond 20%, the grain is rejected altogether. "Grains are starting to germinate due to the delay. If the rains continue, we'll face heavy losses," Balakrishnan warned.
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
Data protection watchdog moves to new Dublin headquarters
The Data Protection Commission (DPC) has moved to new headquarters in Dublin. The building project was commenced by the Office of Public Works in May 2023, and has brought together all of the DPC's Dublin-based staff into one office. The DPC said its new headquarters provides staff with a greatly improved, modern and collaborative work environment that will support the work it does both in Ireland and across the EU. Since the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May 2018, the DPC has imposed fines of more than €4 billion on big tech firms. Just €20 million of that has been paid, as most of the rulings are under appeal. In May 2023, the DPC imposed a record fine of €1.2bn on Meta for breaches relating to the transfer of personal data from the EU to the US. Earlier this month, the DPC fined video-sharing platform TikTok €530 million over the transfer of the personal data of European users to China. The DPC's new headquarters was officially opened today at an event attended by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan. "As the DPC continues to play a leading role in European data protection, this new home will help us meet that responsibility with confidence and ambition," said Data Protection Commissioner Dr Des Hogan. His fellow Commissioner Dale Sunderland added that the new building is a reflection of how far the DPC has grown and developed as an organisation. "A decade ago, we were fewer than 50 people. Now, we're 275 strong and continuing to grow," Mr Sunderland said.
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
TikTok appeals DPC's €530m fine for improper data transfer, and takes Commission to the High Court
It is the latest legal attempt by Big Tech to overturn penalties imposed by the Irish privacy regulator. Of the more than €4bn in fines levied on companies including Meta and Amazon, only €20m has been paid so far. The other penalties are being challenged in the Irish courts. There is no date set for any of the hearings, as a decision is awaited from the European Court of Justice on a key legal point. The latest legal challenge, in which TikTok is being represented by Mason Hayes & Curran, relates to a DPC decision earlier this month to penalise the social network over improper data transfers from Ireland and the EU to China. 'TikTok failed to verify, guarantee and demonstrate that the personal data of European Economic Area (EEA) users, remotely accessed by staff in China, was afforded a level of protection essentially equivalent to that guaranteed within the EU,' DPC deputy commissioner Graham Doyle said at the time. 'As a result of TikTok's failure to undertake the necessary assessments, TikTok did not address potential access by Chinese authorities to EEA personal data under Chinese anti-terrorism, counter-espionage and other laws identified by TikTok as materially diverging from EU standards.' We believe the EU should welcome and support solutions like Project Clover As well as the fine, TikTok was ordered to bring its processing into compliance within six months. In a further 'serious development', the DPC noted that, throughout its inquiry, TikTok had said it did not store EEA user data on servers in China. However, in April it told the regulator that, two months earlier, it discovered that 'limited' data had in fact been stored on Chinese servers. 'TikTok informed the DPC that this discovery meant it had provided inaccurate information to the inquiry,' the regulator pointed out. The DPC is currently engaging with other European data regulators on that issue. After the DPC announced the fine, TikTok said it disagreed with the decision and planned to appeal it in full. Christine Grahn, its head of public policy and government relations in Europe, claimed the decision failed to fully consider Project Clover, its €12bn industry-leading data security initiative that includes some of the most stringent data protections anywhere. 'It instead focuses on a select period from years ago, prior to Clover's 2023 implementation, and does not reflect the safeguards now in place,' she said. ADVERTISEMENT 'The DPC itself recorded in its report what TikTok has consistently said: it has never received a request for European user data from the Chinese authorities, and has never provided European user data to them.' Ms Grahn said that with 175 million users in Europe, more than 6,000 employees, and a platform that has helped small businesses contribute €4.8bn to GDP and over 51,000 jobs, TikTok was deeply integrated into Europe's economy. TikTok also claimed the penalty delivered a blow to the EU's competitiveness. 'At a time when European businesses and economies need innovation, growth and jobs, we believe the EU should welcome and support solutions like Project Clover, as a way to facilitate secure data flows between the EU and non-adequate countries, while guaranteeing the most robust protections for European data security and privacy.'
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
TikTok sues Ireland's data protection watchdog over €530m penalty from regulator
Tech giant TikTok has sued the Data Protection Commission in objection to a massive €530m penalty it received from the regulator earlier this month. The social media company lodged papers in the High Court on Tuesday for a judicial review against the DPC. Neither TikTok nor the DPC had responded to a request for comment at the time of publication. A judicial review relates to the courts reviewing the correctness or otherwise in law of a decision made by an organ of the State, be it a Government Department or a semi-state agency. The suit is understood to relate directly to the DPC's decision to hand the enormous fine to TikTok over the transfer of users' personal data from Europe to China. Issuing that decision on May 2, the DPC told the Chinese-owned firm that it had breached Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) over the transfer of data to China and its own transparency requirements. The DPC said at the time that the fine — the second largest issued under GDPR in the DPC's history — had resulted from the company having 'failed to verify, guarantee and demonstrate that the personal data of European Economic Area users, remotely accessed by staff in China, was afforded a level of protection essentially equivalent to that guaranteed within the EU'. 'As a result of TikTok's failure to undertake the necessary assessments, TikTok did not address potential access by Chinese authorities to EEA personal data under Chinese anti-terrorism, counter-espionage and other laws identified by TikTok as materially diverging from EU standards,' the DPC's deputy commissioner Graham Doyle said at the time. The administrative fine of €530m was accompanied by a direction requiring TikTok to bring its processing into compliance within six months. The company was also ordered to suspend transfers to China if the way it processes data is not brought into compliance over the same timeframe. Throughout the inquiry into TikTok the DPC had said that the company had maintained that it did not store data from users in the European Economic Area on servers located in China. In April, however, TikTok informed the DPC that it had discovered 'limited' European data had been stored on servers in China. The company said it had identified this in February. TikTok informed the DPC that this discovery 'meant that TikTok had provided inaccurate information to the inquiry'. Earlier this month the DPC said that it is taking recent developments regarding the storage of EEA User Data on servers in China 'very seriously'. 'Whilst TikTok has informed the DPC that the data has now been deleted, we are considering what further regulatory action may be warranted, in consultation with our peer EU Data Protection Authorities,' Mr Doyle said at the time. In 2023, the Commission fined TikTok €345m after an investigation into how the platform processed children's data. Read More Limerick-based Carelon Global Solutions to close with loss of 300 jobs
