Activists will test EU-US 'Privacy Shield' deal

Abstract

Significance The European Commission and the US government on February 2 announced a political agreement in principle on rules to govern the transfer of data between them: the EU-US Privacy Shield. The two sides hope the deal, which will be finalised in the coming weeks, will constitute a suitable replacement for the Safe Harbour agreement declared illegal by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in October 2015. However, already privacy advocates are criticising the contours of the arrangements, while European data protection agencies are suspending judgement until the full details are revealed at end-February. Impacts The United States will need to scale up oversight and dispute resolution capacities in the federal government to address European concerns. If European concerns are not assuaged by the agreement, major US companies may increase their EU-based data-storage and management capacity. This will raise costs for US tech companies, but it will also boost the trust of Europeans in US data companies.