Adequate Alternative Remedies and the Right to Bring Judicial Review Proceedings

An interesting aspect of the Irish Supreme Court decision in EMI Records (Ireland) Ltd. v. The Data Protection Commissioner, [2013] IESC 34 is that judicial review proceedings were taken by the applicants even though they were not targeted by the enforcement notice issued by the respondent. This notice was legally flawed: see my previous post here.

The Irish Supreme Court Clarifies its Position on the Reason-Giving Requirement

I posted some harsh(ish) words previously about the Irish Supreme Court's position on the right to reasons. More recently, in EMI Records (Ireland) Ltd. v. The Data Protection Commissioner, [2013] IESC 34, the Court has laid its position out with more clarity.

The factual  background is important. An internet provider entered into a settlement with several record companies The regulator was worried that implementation of the agreement would have data protection consequences. An enforcement notice was issued against the internet provider. No notice was issued against the record companies, but one can easily understand their concern. The issue I address in this post is whether the reasons were so inadequate as to invalidate the enforcement notice.