The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union
(CJEU) to invalidate Safe Harbor in October 2015 sent
shockwaves throughout the international business community.
Safe Harbor was a certification mechanism that allowed personal
data to be transferred across the Atlantic while guaranteeing that
the personal data would be subject to the same protections as under
EU law. More than 4,000 US based companies used this transfer
mechanism. When the CJEU invalidated Safe Harbor, multinational
companies were left wondering how they could now validly transfer
employee information to their US affiliates.
After the announcement of the EU-US Privacy Shield on February
2, 2016, it now appears that a resolution may be on the
horizon. However, before the Privacy Shield can be formally
adopted, the EU's Article 29 Working Party, an independent
advisory body on data protection and privacy, will examine the
proposal in greater detail before making a final
recommendation.
