IAB Europe today (13th May) announced that it is withdrawing its request for suspension of the execution of the decision issued by the Litigation Chamber of the Belgian Data Protection Authority (“APD”) on IAB Europe and the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF).

The request for suspension had been submitted as part of the appeal to the Belgian Market Court lodged on 4th March.

The withdrawal coincides with a confirmation by the APD that it will not take a decision on validation of the action plan submitted by IAB Europe until 1st September at the earliest, date by which the Market Court is expected to have issued a ruling on the appeal. The plan, which IAB Europe was required to produce as part of the APD decision, captures how it proposes to deliver on the various orders contained in the decision. The plan is currently being evaluated by the APD, and IAB Europe will have six months to implement it from the date of validation.

“With the APD having confirmed it will not start the clock running on the 6-month implementation period, the operative part of the contested decision, until we expect to have the ruling on the merits, it just makes sense to withdraw the request and focus on the next steps of the appeal”, explained Townsend Feehan, IAB Europe CEO. “Should the decision on the merits of the case not be rendered by the Market Court in this timeframe, for example if it wishes to refer questions to the European Court of Justice, IAB Europe will be able to ask the Market Court for provisional measures at such a time.”

An updated FAQ on the case may be consulted on IAB Europe’s website here.

For more information, please contact Lauren Wakefield, IAB Europe’s Marketing & Industry Programmes Director (wakefield@iabeurope.eu).