Data transfers can be suspended until investigation is
complete.
In Maximillian Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner
(case C-362/14), the Advocate General ruled that EU data protection
authorities do have powers to investigate complaints about the
transfer of personal data to the United States by Safe
Harbor-certified organisations and can, where justified, suspend
data transfers until their investigations are complete.
Safe Harbor Programme
According to the European Commission, the United States is a
country of "inadequate" data protection. The European
Commission and the US Department of Commerce, therefore, agreed in
the year 2000 to a self-certification programme for US
organisations to receive personal data sent from Europe. The
self-certification programme provided that US organisations must
certify that they adhered to standards of data processing that are
comparable with EU data protection laws such that EU citizens'
personal data was treated as
