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EU, US near deal on new 'safe harbour' terms

2015-10-27 09:14:00| Telecompaper Headlines

(Telecompaper) The European Union has reached an agreement in principle with the US on strengthening the 'safe harbour' agreement on the transfer of personal data to the US. The announcement was made by Jera Verouva, the European Commssioner for Justice, who was addressing the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs in the European Parliament on the consequences of the recent ruling by the EU Court of Justice striking down the previous designation of the US as a safe harbour. Verouva said the European Commission will release soon a communication outlining the consequences of the ruling for businesses. This will provide guidance until a more detailed agreement can be reached on a new safe harbour deal. The EC recommended already in 2013 a number of changes to the safe harbour agreement and these, along with the court ruling, have served as the basis for negotiations underway with the US. One of the key elements of the talks is ensuring a "effective detection and supervision mechanisms", as required by the court. According to Verouva, the US has delivered on this by committing to a stronger oversight by the Department of Commerce, stronger cooperation with European data protection authorities and priority treatment of complaints by the Federal Trade Commission. "This will transform the system from a purely self-regulating one to an oversight system that is more responsive as well as pro-active and backed-up by significant enforcement, including sanctions," Verouva said. While there is an agreement with the US on these matters in principle, the EC is still discussing how to ensure that these commitments are binding enough to fully meet the requirements of the court, she added. Once a new deal is in place, it will be subject to annual review, including the use of exemptions for law enforcement and national security grounds.

Tags: terms safe deal harbour

EU regulators set 3-mth deadline for new safe harbour deal

2015-10-19 09:27:00| Telecompaper Headlines

(Telecompaper) The EU's data protection regulators have given the EU and US three months to negotiate a new 'safe harbour' agreement on the transfer of personal data to the US, or the regulators may start pursuing enforcement action against companies. The existing designation for the US as a 'safe' destination for data on EU residents was overturned in a ruling by the EU Court of Justice. It found the US could not be considered safe given the evidence of wide-ranging data collection by security services in the US and the lack of legal recourse for EU citizens in the US if their data is misused. The Article 29 Working Party, which unites the EU's data protection regulators, said in a statement that it was "absolutely essential" for EU members to take a common position on implementation of the court ruling. They called for the EU to open talks with the US in order to find ways for data to be transferred between the countries while still respecting fundamental rights of the data subjects. Until a new agreement can be reached, companies may continue to use standard contractual clauses and binding corporate rules to provide protection for subjects of data collection and transfer. The Article 29 group will start a review of these and other tools to assess the impact of the ECJ ruling. If no apporpriate solution is found with the US by the end of January 2016 and depending on the results of the regulatory review, the EU data protection authorities said they are "committed to take all necessary and appropriate actions, which may include coordinated enforcement actions".

Tags: set safe deal deadline

EU-US 'Safe Harbour' data transfers declared invalid

2015-10-06 12:34:00| Telecompaper Headlines

(Telecompaper) The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the 'safe harbour' agreement on data transfer between the EU and US is invalid, casting doubt on the extent to which US tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Apple can continue to collect data from their users in the EU. The ECJ's ruling upholds the opinion of its advocate-general Yves Bot, who last month said the 'safe harbour' deal should be invalidated "because the surveillance carried out by the US is mass, indiscriminate surveillance," leaving the data of European citizens unprotected in the US. The agreement has been in force since 2000 but has come under severe criticism following revelations of widespread US spying from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Tags: data safe declared invalid

EU Court to issue 'safe harbour' decision on 06 October

2015-09-30 09:31:00| Telecompaper Headlines

(Telecompaper) The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has announced that it will release its decision in the 'safe harbour' case on 06 October, less than a couple of weeks after the ECJ's advocate-general published a non-binding recommendation that the long-standing agreement on data transfer between the EU and US should be invalidated. The decision to expedite the announcement of the ECJ's final judgment suggests the court is aware of the importance of the ruling for a large number of companies who rely on 'safe harbour' for their EU-to-US data transfers. "Whilst it is possible it is not normal to only take two weeks from opinion to decision," said ECJ spokesman Christopher Fretwell, according to the Wall Street Journal. He added that it usually takes between three and six months from a court adviser's opinion until a decision is published.

Tags: october issue safe decision