EU Urged Not to Sign Off New US Data Transfer Deal

A European Parliament Committee has expressed serious doubts about the proposed 'adequacy decision' giving the green light to the latest rules for the transfer of data to and from the US. LIBE says the US commitments lack the robust safeguards and redress mechanisms required by GDPR.

In a draft opinion, LIBE - the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs - urged the Parliament not to issue the adequacy decision 'unless meaningful reforms are introduced'

The US government and the European Commission trailered a new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework eleven months ago, aiming to restore the freer flow of data between the two after the forerunner Privacy Shield was struck down by the CJEU in the Schrems II decision of July 2020. In October, President Joe Biden signed an executive order outlining US commitments to safeguarding personal data which were intended to drop into the new Framework, but the latest opinion highlights its shortcomings. These include the possibility, left open by the President, that his government might still authorize the bulk collection of data by signals intelligence, including the content of communications, if required for 'legitimate national security objectives'; and the reservation of the right to add to the list of these objectives any time without disclosing details.

The committee also flagged up a focus on 'secrecy' in the provisions for redress where breaches occur; and the USA's failure to implement a federal data protection law, 'unlike all other third countries that have received an adequacy decision under the GDPR'.

Web sites: www.whitehouse.gov , www.europa.eu .