EU-US Privacy Shield: Brace Yourself . . . Or Maybe Not

On February 29, 2016, the European Commission and United States released the terms of the much-anticipated renewed framework for the transfer, sharing, and processing of European individuals' data to the United States. The framework replaces the "Safe Harbour" mechanism, which enabled U.S. to transfer data from the EU to the United States by self-certifying that their practices ensured an adequate level of protection for personal data under the EU Data Protection Directive. In October, the "Safe Harbour" framework was declared invalid by the European Court of Justice in the Schrems decision covered earlier in this blog.

The agreement reached between the European Commission and several U.S. government agencies defines the obligations now placed on participating companies that transfer data to the United States. Two driving forces behind the renegotiation have created two distinct but related sections of the framework: 1) the mechanism, and 2) commitments from United