Ms Helen Dixon:

The European Data Protection Board is a group of all of the EU data protection authorities. The European Commission also participates and the European Data Protection Supervisor is also a member. The Irish Data Protection Commission is a member and a part of the European Data Protection Board. It is a decision-making body. It has a limited role in making decisions in certain circumstances that are set down under the GDPR. Its primary purpose is to promote a harmonised implementation of the GDPR across the EU. We do that, as a board, by issuing agreed guidance on concepts under data protection legislation, concepts regarding transparency, consent and so on.

In terms of specific cases and investigations, the European Data Protection Board has a particular role in the co-operation and consistency mechanism, and the dispute resolution mechanisms between data protection authorities. As a board, we have rules of procedure that we have agreed between us. The GDPR provides for the appointment of a chair to the board and the chair is the head of a national data protection authority, voted on by the members of the European Data Protection Board. The commissioner for Austria is the current chair of the European Data Protection Board. We meet in plenary form on a monthly basis in Brussels, typically a full two-day meeting each month. We meet in subgroup form every month for the 11 different subgroups that exist. The Irish Data Protection Commission will attend more than 100 meetings this year in Brussels in terms of-----