EU privacy watchdog EDPB gave the Data Protection Commission a month to issue a long-delayed decision on compliance by Facebook's WhatsApp, siding with national enforcers which had objected to a draft ruling.
The agency, which leads oversight of Facebook because the company's European headquarters are based in Ireland, has been investigating WhatsApp to see if it complies with transparency obligations specified by EU privacy rules known as GDPR.
It sought feedback from its peers in December but was unable to find a consensus regarding its draft decision.
The other national watchdogs objected to the type of infringements identified by the Irish, whether the specific data in question was personal data and the appropriateness of the proposed sanctions.
The DPC said it would ignore the objections and referred them to the EDPB, which has decided to back its counterparts.
"The IE SA shall adopt its final decision, addressed to the controller, on the basis of the EDPB decision, without undue delay and at the latest one month after the EDPB has notified its decision," the EU watchdog, which acts as a referee in disputes among the national agencies, said.
