‘New data exchange agreement between EU and US still months away’ | NOW

Companies hoping that the European Union and the new US administration will soon reach an agreement that will allow data to be exchanged between the two areas will likely have to wait for months to do so, the head of the European privacy watchdog tells news agency Reuters.

The earlier agreement named Privacy Shield was passed by the European Court of Justice in July swept off the table, because data of European citizens in the US is insufficiently protected in the opinion of the highest European court.

Companies that used the Privacy Shield to justify sending data to the US had to go there immediately quit. Five thousand companies made use of the scheme.

“I don’t expect a replacement for Privacy Shield in a few weeks, and probably not in a few months,” said Wojciech Wiewiorowski, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS).

“So we have to take into account that a system without a Privacy Shield-like solution will take a while.” One reason, he says, is that the government of US president-to-be Joe Biden has different priorities.

Activist had Privacy Shield declared invalid

The Privacy Shield is the second agreement between Washington and Brussels that has been annulled by the European Court. The same happened in 2015 with its predecessor: the Safe Harbor Treaty.

The treaties were swept aside after cases of Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems. He fears that civilian data will simply fall into the hands of US intelligence services as soon as they cross the Atlantic.

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