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Facebook will be challenged to know if its current practices respect the privacy rights of EU citizens
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The method used by Facebook to transfer data from the EU to the US for commercial purposes must be challenged again in court.
The Irish Data Protection Commissioner will argue that the legal mechanism governing such transfers does not sufficiently protect the privacy rights of EU citizens.
The problem is that such transfers could be subject to mbadive surveillance by US intelligence agencies.
Facebook said that data protection safeguards were in place.
A decision against Facebook could potentially undermine the basis on which many companies are sending Atlantic data, especially technology giants that rely on cloud computing and communication technologies.
At present, the social network is transferring large amounts of personal data on EU users to servers located in the United States – from the names of people to information about their online business.
In 2013, documents released by former CIA contractor Edward Snowden suggested that Facebook be the target of "Prism," a mbad surveillance program of the US National Security Agency.
This has led activist Max Schrems for privacy protection to successfully challenge the previous data transfer mechanism between the EU and the US, Safe Harbor, in court.
The alternative legal framework used by Facebook since it's called "standard contractual clauses" (CCS).
But the Irish data protection commissioner suggested that the CCS are not suited to their purpose given the possibility of surveillance by the intelligence services.
If the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided that the CCS actually posed problems, the decision would have enormous consequences for Facebook and other companies, said the lawyer Orla Lynskey, from the London School of Economics.
"This would have a very significant impact for companies," she told BBC News.
"The big question is whether data can be transmitted to third countries [outside the EU]should we consider the potential access of the intelligence or law enforcement services? "
Jack Gilbert, deputy general counsel for Facebook, said the social network was "grateful" for the consideration of the CJEU.
"Standard contractual clauses provide important safeguards to ensure that European data are protected when transferred abroad," he said.
"The SCCs have been designed and endorsed by the European Commission and allow thousands of Europeans to do business around the world".
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