EU's Highest Court Declares The US-EU Safe Harbor Agreement For Data Sharing

Originally published October 6, 2015

Today the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the European Union's highest court, struck down the US-EU data transfer "Safe Harbor" agreement in a case relating to a Facebook user's complaint alleging a breach of his data privacy rights in the wake of the Edward Snowden leaks. In 2000, the European Commission approved the adequacy of the privacy protections in the current US-EU "Safe Harbor" agreement but the ECJ rejected the Commission's approval and found that the agreement fails to protect the privacy right of EU citizens for two primary reasons: (i) it permits US national security and law enforcement interests to override the privacy right of EU citizens and (ii) it fails to provide a means for US judicial redress or a means for EU data protection authorities to hear challenges to data transfers to third countries.