In a move which underscores social network Facebook's compliance with the December 2011 recommendations of the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), Facebook has recently suspended its facial-recognition tool in Europe.

With the facial-recognition tool - which essentially suggests when registered Facebook users can be tagged in photos uploaded to the social network's website - having already been turned off for all new users, the deletion of the existing templates will be completed by October 15.

Despite the fact the complete shut down of the facial-recognition tool was not part of the DPC's recommendations - which chiefly comprised increased transparency about Facebook's use of users' data, targeted advertisers, and improved user control over privacy settings -, Commissioner Billy Hawkes said that he was happy with Facebook's decision to suspend the photo-tag tool for European users next month.

While Facebook said that it intends reinstating the suspended tag-suggest feature in accordance with the new DPC guidelines, Hawkes asserted that Facebook's suspension of the tool was a clear indication of the social network's "commitment to best practice in data protection compliance."

Meanwhile, revealing that the DPC's investigations into Facebook included a scrutiny of "every aspect" of its service, Richard Allan - Facebook director of policy for Europe, Middle East and Africa - said the Facebook's "overall scorecard is very good;" and added: "In the vast majority of areas the DPC looked into, they found we are behaving in a way that's not just compliant but a reasonable model for good practice."