Privacy Shield Strengthened

The EU and US have agreed changes to the Privacy Shield data protection framework. The revised version gives more detail on specific conditions under which US intelligence services might have to collect data in bulk, and introduces a new, independent privacy official.

A framework for the deal was issued in February, giving US companies and government agencies new obligations intended to 'protect the fundamental rights of Europeans where their data is transferred to the United States and ensure legal certainty for businesses'. The deal follows the decision on 6th October by the Court of Justice that the previously existing 'Safe Harbour' arrangement was invalid, and had not ensured a sufficient level of data protection as required by EU law.

The new deal combined stronger obligations on US companies to protect the personal data of Europeans and stronger monitoring and enforcement by the US Department of Commerce and FTC. However by April European data regulators were openly expressing doubts about the framework - principally over concerns that US authorities may still get easy access to the mass of data available on EU citizens and over the lack of clarity in the Shield about the automated processing of data.

The US will now appoint a new privacy official, reviewing complaints from EU citizens about alleged instances of US spying - this figure would be independent of the country's intelligence services.

The revised Privacy Shield has now been sent for review by European member states, with a vote due next week - if passed it will take immediate effect.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.