Three Ways You May Be Affected By The EU Safe Harbor Ruling

Earlier this month, the European Union Court of Justice invalidated the U.S. Safe Harbor, a mechanism that permitted the transfer of personal data from the European Economic Area to the United States. The Court's ruling is expected to affect companies (i) that send personal data from Europe to the United States, (ii) that store European information in the Cloud, and (iii) that use third parties who do either of the above.

Background

The EU Data Protection Directive prohibits the transfer of personal data from the European Economic Area to non-member countries, absent certain defined exceptions. For the past 15 years, the principal exception for the United States has been the Safe Harbor. The Safe Harbor permits U.S. companies to transfer personal data by self-certifying to the Department of Commerce that they have taken reasonable precautions to protect personal information. Approximately 4,500 U.S. companies have used this procedure to transfer data from Europe to