The EU and the US have agreed in principle the successor to the Privacy Shield for the transfer of personal data, which has been revoked by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). It was announced today by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Joe Biden. “This will enable predictable and reliable data flow between the EU and the US and will protect privacy and civil liberties,” said von der Leyen.
The ECJ repealed the “Privacy Shield” for data transfers from Europe via the Atlantic in July 2020, justifying that the level of data protection in the US does not meet EU standards. First of all, the judges criticized the far-reaching possibilities of US secret services accessing the data of Europeans.
Schrems sees no expert support
This created a lot of legal uncertainty for companies when transferring data between the US and the EU. The previous Safe Harbor Regulation was also repealed by the ECJ. In both cases the Austrian lawyer Max Schrems complained. He also criticized the new agreement, about which no details are known yet.
According to Schrems, there is no support from experts in Brussels for the new deal, “because the US has not changed. It is particularly outrageous that the US has allegedly used the war with Ukraine to put pressure on the EU on this economic issue, “Noyb von Schrems, a data protection organization, said in a broadcast. If the new deal does not comply with EU law, Noyb or another group is likely to challenge it as well.