The Supreme Court has dismissed Facebook’s attempt to prevent the referral of a landmark privacy case to the Court of Justice of the EU.

The case questions whether the social network is legally entitled to transfer the personal data of its EU users to the United States.

The case was brought to the courts by the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) Helen Dixon on foot of a complaint by Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems.

Mr Schrems has argued that the transfer of his personal data to the US is in breach of his data privacy rights as an EU citizen.

In a statement after the dismissal was handed down this morning, DPC Head of Communications Graham Doyle said: "The DPC welcomes the Supreme Court judgement and looks forward to the substantive issues in the case being the subject of a hearing by the CJEU (Court of Justice of the EU) soon."

05/04/2013. The Four Courts. A general view of the exterior of the Four Courts in Dublin city centre, which houses the High Court and the Supreme Court and civil cases. Photo: Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

The action lays out a number of concerns over whether the transfer of the data offers EU citizens enough protection against US surveillance and whether the private data of EU citizens is adequately protected under US law.

Last October, the High Court referred the action to the European Court of Justice.

Facebook appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, which handed down its decision this morning.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the F8 developer conference in California, 30-04-2019. Image: Andrej Sokolow/dpa

The main issue in front of the court was whether or not it had the right to consider an appeal against the referral.

The five judge panel found that it cannot entertain any appeal against a High Court referral to the ECJ or the reasons for that referral - noting “it is for the referring court, and that court alone, to decide whether to make a reference.”

However, the court did find that it could entertain an appeal against the facts found by the High Court – and should overturn them if it can proved that they are not in accordance with Irish law.

Chief justice Frank Clarke said the court had dismissed the appeal on this occasion because Facebook’s criticism of the High Court judgement related to the “proper characterisation of underlying facts rather than towards those facts themselves.”

In a statement responding to the court's decision, Facebook said: “We are grateful for the consideration of the Irish Court and look ahead to the Court of Justice of the European Union to now decide on these complex questions."

The case will now be heard in the ECJ on July 9th – when Europe’s top court will decide whether the method Facebook uses to transfer data is legal.