A new transatlantic data transfer agreement was announced today between the EU and the US. The new EU-US Privacy Shield will replace the Safe Harbor agreement, which was invalidated by the European Court of Justice last October. This announcement came two days after the deadline, set by European National data protection agencies, passed on Sunday, January 31, 2016. US Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker released a statement today as well.
This new agreement is over two years in the making, as negotiations started well before the court invalidated the old Safe Harbor agreement framework. Negotiations began in 2013, following the Snowden revelations. As of the announcement, no written agreement has been finalized, rather, a written draft will be prepared in the coming weeks, while the US prepares to put the new framework in place, including, monitoring mechanisms and a new Ombudsman.
The new EU-US Privacy Shield is expected to reflect the European Court of Justice’s ruling that invalidated the Safe Harbor framework in October. The European Commission indicated the new framework will include:
- strong obligations on companies handling Europeans’ personal data, backed by robust enforcement;
- clear safeguards and transparency obligations on U.S. government access to personal data;
- effective protection of EU citizens’ rights, with several options for redress.
The new framework is due to come into force in three months. In the meantime, during the gaps period, companies face uncertainty as to what, if any, enforcement actions will be taken by individual European nations.
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