Data Protection Commissioner must pay 80 percent of costs of proceedings where applicant obtained substantial part of reliefs sought in settlement

High Court – Commercial Court – costs of proceedings – settlement agreement – Data Protection Commissioner - Facebook proceedings – Facebook’s claims dismissed - applicant a notice party to the proceedings – applicant's own proceedings settled – obtained substantial part of reliefs – Data Protection Commissioner contended that he did not obtain the main relief he was seeking – order quashing decision to commence the inquiry – compromised proceedings - whether Facebook was acting lawfully and compatible with GDPR in making transfers of personal data to individuals in the EU/EEA - consideration of correspondence - Court cannot consider the strength of the parties cases – DPC did not intend to seek submissions from the applicant until the completion of the inquiry – significant concessions by the DPC – applicable legal test – s. 168 and 169 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 – not a case where either party was entirely successful – each case must depend on the facts of each case – public interest in resolution of proceedings – need to ensure respondents are not inhibited in proposing reasonable measures to address proceedings by concern they will have to discharge costs – encourages applicants to clearly identify what they want before they initiate proceedings and prompt defendants to address relief in a timely manner – order quashing DPC’s decision to commence and proceed with own-volition inquiry was no longer necessary give other matters agreed – DPC's agreement to conduct own volition inquiry and the investigation into the applicant’s complaint concurrently and in parallel manner – applicant entitled to be heard in the inquiry and agreement to make certain materials available emanating from Facebook in the context of the own volition inquiry and the applicant’s own complaint – DPC shifted its position a number of times – agreement reached between the parties to resolve the issues did result in the applicant obtaining a substantial part of the reliefs sought – would not have obtained it without instituting proceedings - open to the Court to refuse to deal with the question of costs on the basis that the parties could have dealt with them in the agreement – not an appropriate exercise of discretion on the particular facts of the case – appropriate order for costs is that the Data Protection Commissioner pay 80 percent of the costs of the proceedings and of the costs hearing – to be adjudicated in default of agreement.