Ms Anna Morgan:

I thank the Senator for his questions and I also thank Ms Craig for her comments on these issues. If someone has posted content online about another individual, issues may arise concerning both harmful online content concerns and data protection concerns. It can be hard for individuals to differentiate between the two different areas of regulation. While we appreciate that it may not have been the intention to have an outright exclusion of material which conflicts with or violates data protection law from the remit of the media commission, because of the very explicit way in which head 49(A) has been drafted, we are concerned that the impact could be to exclude complaints which are primarily about the nature of the content and the potential for harmful effects on one or more individuals. Those sorts of complaints might fall entirely outside the remit.

Ms Craig has referred to the possibility of co-operation agreements and I note that that is dealt with in head 29 of the general scheme. I wish to comment on that part of the general scheme. It is not entirely clear that there would necessarily be a handoff of complaints between the media commission and the DPC or any other regulator. If that was to be the case, the DPC has made the point in its written submission that insofar as there might be a transmission of complaints between regulators, there would need to be a clear legal basis for the transfer of those complaints given that they would involve personal data. We consider that Article 6.1(a) of the GDPR and the legal basis for how performance of a task in the public interest is engaged it would require a basis in Irish law in order for those complaints to be transferred.

Equally, we note Ms Craig's comments and the intention to have general co-operation agreements. We think it is a good idea to have arrangements in place between regulators outlining the processes by which they would interact with each other. If there was an intention to transfer individual complaints containing personal data, that would require specific legislation and the creation of a legal basis.