Privacy Rights Group Files First Legal Challenge To EU-U.S. Privacy Shield

Digital Rights Ireland, an Irish privacy advocacy group, has filed the first legal challenge to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, the Trans-Atlantic agreement reached earlier this year to permit the lawful transfer of personal data from the European Union to the United States. The Privacy Shield was formally adopted on July 12, 2016, by the European Commission, which released an Adequacy Decision concluding that "the United States ensures an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield from the Union to self-certified organisations in the United States." Digital Rights Ireland's application to the EU General Court seeks annulment of the Commission's Adequacy Decision. A spokesman for the European Commission stated that it was aware of the application and "is convinced that the Privacy Shield will live up to the requirements set out by the European Court of Justice."