The United States and the European Union reportedly have agreed on changes to the EU-US Privacy Shield. A revised agreement has been sent to EU Member States, and a vote is expected to be held early next month, in early July 2016. If approved by the EU Member States, companies will be able to subscribe to the Privacy Shield shortly thereafter.
Although the revised agreement is not yet available publicly, the Wall Street Journal reports that the European Commission has addressed the Article 29 Working Party’s concerns regarding the first draft. Fortune reports that the revised agreement clarifies US “mass surveillance powers, the role of the ‘ombudsperson’ who will adjudicate complaints from EU citizens about their data being abused, and the transfer of EU citizens’ data to other companies.”
Our Take
The agreement is a positive step in bringing the Privacy Shield closer to reality. There is a need for a functional, workable cross-border data transfer mechanism that will have broad support on both sides of the Atlantic. This need is even greater now that the Irish data protection authority has referred a question on the validity of Standard Contractual Clauses to the Court of Justice of the European Union
We will update the Data Protection Report when the revised draft is published.
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