On 12 July 2016, the European Commission (the
"Commission") formally adopted the
'Privacy Shield' framework for transatlantic data transfers
from the EU to the US. The Commission's decision followed
an approval by Member States on 8 July 2016.
Privacy Shield replaces the 'Safe Harbour' agreement
which was invalidated by the Court of Justice of the European Union
(the "CJEU") in the Schrems
decision last year. The relative speed with which the Privacy
Shield has been finalised demonstrates the importance of continued
transatlantic data flows to industry, and therefore government, on
both sides of the Atlantic.
The Commission has stated that Privacy Shield addresses the
previous concerns related to data transfers from the EU to the US
identified by the CJEU in the
Schrems decision, as well as those voiced in the
Article 29 Working Party ("WP29")
opinion of 13 April 2016 and by Mr Giovani Buttarelli, the European
Data Protection Supervisor (the "EDPS"),
in his
