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

The Bottom Line

• After both the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework and EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework were invalidated by European courts, businesses are hopeful that the new Data Privacy Framework will be the one that finally survives legal scrutiny.
• Businesses dealing with cross-border transfers of personal data from the EU to the United States should be ready to consider registering under the new framework.

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