Biden Administration Issues Executive Order To Encourage EU-US Data Transfers

On October, 7 2022, President Biden issued an "Executive Order on Enhancing Safeguards for the United States Signals Intelligence Activities" (Executive Order) explaining the steps the United States will take to implement the US commitments under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (Data Privacy Framework).

The Data Privacy Framework is a response to the July 2020 "Schrems II" decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework (Privacy Shield) as a lawful mechanism for the transfer of personal data from the EU to the United States under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Before Schrems II, companies could self-certify as Privacy Shield-compliant and cross-border transfers were considered adequate under Article 45 of the GDPR. With Privacy Shield invalidated, companies have relied on other transfer mechanisms, most commonly the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), which impose an