Polish DPA Speaks Out On Data Transfers To The U.S.

Poland's data protection authority, the Generalny Inspektor Ochrony Danych Osobowych (GIODO), recently issued its opinion on the continued validity of personal data transfers to the US. The opinion comes at a time when nearly every means of legitimizing data transfers from the EU to the US has come under fire: on October 6, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) issued a decision invalidating the US-EU Safe Harbor framework, and soon after Germany's Conference of Data Protection Commissioners indicated that the German DPAs would not grant any new approvals for data transfers to the US on the basis of binding corporate rules (BCRs) or standard contractual clauses. Meanwhile, the Article 29 Working Party issued an opinion stating that standard contractual clauses and BCRs remained valid tools for transferring personal data from the EU to the US. Furthermore, it recognized that American and European authorities were negotiating to develop a Safe Harbor replacement, and