If Safe Harbor Is Dead In The Water, What Does That Mean For You?

The invalidation of the EU-U.S. Safe Harbor framework in October 2015 has created uncertainty for businesses that were reliant on the regime to transfer data to the United States, and has caused political shockwaves on both sides of the Atlantic. As it nears four months since the European Court of Justice's judgment in Maximillian Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner (C-362-14) was handed down, we explore the current status of "Safe Harbor 2.0" and outline steps that your business may need to take.

Delays to Safe Harbor 2.0 In October 2015, we  reported that a deadline of 31 January 2016 had been set for agreement to be reached on a new trans-Atlantic data-sharing arrangement between the EU and United States. Coinciding with this date, EU data protection authorities set a deadline for companies previously Safe Harbor-certified to put alternative data transfer mechanisms in place. As the deadline for a political agreement looms, it seems more and more likely that