A proclamation was made by US President Joe Biden to establish a new legal framework for the transfer of personal data from the European Union to the US.
Didier Reynders, the European Justice Commissioner, applauded this action, which, according to Agence France-Presse, prepares the way for a similar legislation by the European Union that can be finished by “next spring.”
Reynders, who has been in charge of negotiations with Washington for the past 18 months, hailed the additional privacy protections adopted by the US.
The IT industry also applauded the new order, which was issued after two previous versions of the agreement allowing businesses to transfer data of European people to the US for processing or storage were declared invalid by a European court due to worries over US surveillance programmes.
Max Schrems, an Austrian attorney and privacy campaigner, told AFP that there was a “90% likelihood” that his NGO would file a fresh lawsuit against the latest version following the European Court of Justice’s decision to invalidate the previous two versions as a result of his appeal.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and the US president announced a tentative agreement on a new framework in March.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated at a news conference in Washington on Friday, “This is the culmination of our collaborative efforts to restore confidence and normalise the flow of data across the Atlantic.”
The language strengthens security safeguards and civil rights protections for US surveillance activities that target information gathered in Europe and sent over the Atlantic or stored with Americans.
Additionally, it establishes an independent and legally enforceable system that enables people in qualified nations to seek redress if they believe US intelligence agencies have improperly gathered their personal data and, where appropriate, to get a decision to delete or amend it.
This system offers two levels of appeal: one through the CIA’s civil liberties protection officer and another through a separate court established by the Department of Justice.
“These duties will encompass transfers of personal data to the United States under EU law,” Raimondo continued. “They completely accord with the judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union.”
The court determined in July 2020 that the Privacy Shield agreement, which is utilised by 5,000 US businesses, including behemoths like Google and Amazon, did not shield against “possible interference with the basic rights of the individuals whose data is being transmitted.”
The European Union is not anticipated to make a decision on the agreement before six months, as it needs to be approved by a qualified majority of member states (15 out of 27 provided they represent at least 65% of the European population), the European Data Protection Council, and the European Parliament. The digital companies said they were happy with the deal.
Major cloud storage providers are united by the Computer and Communications Industry Association, which emphasised that “data transfers are at the heart of transatlantic relations” and emphasised the significance of “sustainable and reliable mechanisms for the responsible transfer of data between countries.”
A law assuring the security of the transfer of personal data from the European Union is signed by Biden.
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