EDPB lacks the competence to take well-informed decisions
Article(s) involved (national, EU, or other): Article 65 and 66.
Problem
The EDPB is a decision-making body but lacks any competence to collect information or evidence (striking compared to other EU Agencies with decision-making tasks). The EDPB is highly reliant upon the SAs, and can only hope for a complete file. It can indeed request further information from the SAs but only before the decision-making process is commenced and this information requested shall not be new information for the SAs. Highly problematic, as shown in the EDPB’s first four binding decisions but also in the Meta cases based on noyb’s complaints.
Ideal Solution
Text should allow the EDPB to request information from the SAs also during its decision-making process. Potentially even directly from the parties to the procedure if the SAs are unable to deliver the required information. Inspiration can be drawn from Article 35 of ESMA’s regulation. For this, the Board would need more permanent members, not representatives from national SAs (also with an eye on potential conflicts of interests).
