Welcoming The New Year – And A New Mechanism For EU-U.S. Data Transfers?

In October 2022, President Joe Biden's administration published an executive order regarding a new EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, i.e. the replacement of the so-called Privacy Shield mechanism previously allowing transfers of personal data from the EU to the U.S. The executive order immediately sparked the European Commission's process to assess the new U.S. regime and prepare a respective adequacy decision, which would bring considerable certainty and clarity to trans-Atlantic data flows. In essence, it was a beacon of hope for European organisations having struggled with U.S. data transfers, for example in connection with various established cloud services, ever since the prior Privacy Shield mechanism was invalidated by the Schrems II judgement in July 2020.