On July 8, 2016, European Member States approved the proposed EU-US Privacy Shield framework, with four Member States – Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Slovenia – reportedly abstaining. Before the framework can be implemented, formal approval by the European Commission is
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
On May 25, 2016, Austrian law student Max Schrems issued a press release stating that he has been informed that the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) is planning to refer a question to the Court of Justice of
On February 26, 2016, Article 29 Working Party member and head of the Hamburg Data Protection Authority, Prof. Dr. Johannes Caspar, again spoke at an event about the consequences of the invalidation of the Safe Harbor, emphasizing his position on the transfer of personal data from the EU to the US.
Today the UK data protection authority (the ICO) published a blog post and consolidated interim guidance on how to handle EU/US data transfers while the EU-US Privacy Shield is being scrutinised by the Article 29 Working Party.
On February 3, 2016, the Article 29 Working Party (WP29) released a statement on the consequences of the Schrems judgment, following an assessment of the legal framework and the practices of US intelligence services. The WP29 expressed continuing concerns about the US framework for processing personal data for intelligence purposes, in spite of recent reforms.
This week, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) ruled that the EU-US Safe Harbor Decision is invalid in Case C-362/14 (the “Schrems” case). This followed a similar opinion from its Advocate General, which also sets out the facts of the case.
The decision will impact businesses that rely on the EU-US Safe Harbor to legitimize their storage in, or access from, the US of personal data that is subject to EU data protection rules. It could affect cloud service providers, companies that use cloud services, intragroup shared services and any other export flows to the US that rely on Safe Harbor for data transfer.
In this post we look at what the CJEU decided and on what grounds, and what affected businesses should do next.
It is being reported that the European Union and the United States are nearing an agreement on the revised US-EU/US-Swiss Safe Harbor framework. Thousands of US companies that have certified compliance with the Safe Harbor should be encouraged that the framework – which has been the subject of sustained criticism by European data protection regulators – will live another day. At the same time, certified organizations should prepare for enhanced requirements and a more robust enforcement climate that might come with the revised framework.