EU–US personal data transfer – United States and European Commission reach an agreement named « EU-US Privacy Shield »
On February 2, 2016, European Commission and US government reached an agreement on European citizens’ personal data transfer to the US.
The new framework follows the “Safe Harbour” invalidation by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on October 6, 2015, for not meeting adequate protection level requirements required by the European Directive 95/46/EC.
Requirements set out by the CJEU were taken into account and both the Commission and the US agreed on the following key points:
- Strong obligations on US companies wishing to import personal data from Europe (obligation to publish commitments on personal data processing methods and guarantees provided to ensure individual rights) ;
- Clear safeguards and transparency obligations on US government access (exclusion of indiscriminate mass surveillance, public authorities access to personal data subject to necessity and proportionality criteria);
- Effective protection of EU citizens’ rights (introduction of several redress possibilities, deadlines imposed to companies to reply to complaints, free of charge alternative dispute resolution and introduction of an Ombudperson for complaints related to personal data access by national intelligence authorities).
A draft “Adequacy decision” will be prepared in the coming weeks.
For more details, read : http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-216_fr.htm
Emmanuelle Behr / Elsa Witterköer
Attorney at law