The European Commission has announced new developments data transfer agreement with the United States on Monday, in an effort to end the legal uncertainty that plagues thousands of companies that transfer their information across the Atlantic Ocean.
However, the move was immediately criticized by the non-profit group noyb, led by privacy activist Max Schrems, who said they would oppose the deal.
The Commission and the United States have been struggling to reconcile after the European Court of Justice struck down two previous agreements that facilitated the transfer of personal data across the Atlantic for services ranging from the cloud to payments and banking.
The EU official said that the measures taken by the United States ensure sufficient protection for Europeans who are transferred across the Atlantic for commercial purposes.
It also proposed new safeguards, such as those that limit US technology access EU What is “necessary and proportionate” is the establishment of the European Court of Human Protection, to address concerns raised by the European Court of Justice.
EU justice chief Didier Reynders said he was confident he would resolve any legal challenges.
“The principles of the data privacy policy are strong and I believe that we have made significant progress in line with the European Court of Justice,” he said at a press conference.
“I am very determined to fight, to protect the new data agreement.”
Schrems said the recent renovations were inadequate.
“Simply announcing that something is ‘new’, ‘strong’ or ‘effective’ does not cut it before the Court of Justice. We will need to change US surveillance laws to make this possible,” he said in his statement.
“We have different options for the problems that are already in the closet, although we are sick and tired of this legal ping-pong. At the moment we hope that this will return to the Court of Justice early next year,” added Schrems.
The DigitalEurope lobby group, whose members include Airbus, Amazon, apple, Ericsson, Nokia, Philips and Samsung received a contract.
“The move contributes to the annual EU of EUR 1 trillion (about Rs. 90,75,250 crore) of export jobs to the United States, and this decision will give companies the confidence to do business and help our economy grow,” their Director-General. Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl said.
Earlier this year, the EU’s privacy watchdog the European Data Protection Board said the latest data protection agreement had failed and urged the Commission to do more to protect Europeans’ privacy rights.
The European Court of Justice overruled two previous agreements after Schrems’s ordeal over complaints about US intelligence agencies accessing the private information of European citizens.
© Thomson Reuters 2023