Breaking news: AG Bot has just delivered his Opinion in Case C-362/14 Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner (the Facebook case) holding that the Commission decision establishing the ‘Safe Harbour’ scheme in the USA does not eliminate or reduce the national authorities’ duties to assess compliance with the Directive 95/46/EC, and in any event, the Safe Harbour decision is invalid in the light of the Snowdon revelations about mass data surveillance in the USA. The full text of the Opinion will be published, and doubtless discussed here, later on but if the CJEU agrees, it is a very significant decision.

I will be on BBC World later this morning discussing the implications of the Opinion.

Christopher Knight