Third Time's A Charm - Adequacy Decision For EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Adopted By European Commission

Years of anticipation culminated on July 10, 2023, when the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision (the Adequacy Decision) on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (the Framework).

The Adequacy Decision is the result of a series of negotiations between the European Union and the United States to ensure that the United States provides a comparable level of protection to the EU with respect to cross-border transfers of personal data under Article 45(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Following the 2020 decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to invalidate the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework in the Schrems IIcase, U.S. companies could no longer rely on their privacy shield certification as a lawful means to transfer EU personal data.