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Privacy Shield in jeopardy under Trump

May 2, 2017

The European Parliament says it is concerned that a data-sharing pact that allows personal data to be transferred across the Atlantic for business purposes is no longer fit for purpose.

The European Parliament said that the European Commission must conduct a robust assessment of Privacy Shield because new rules enacted in January 2017 allow the US National Security Agency (NSA) to access EU citizens' data without first obtaining a warrant. Companies rely on the Privacy Shield agreement to send data across the Atlantic for business purposes, including internal and government investigations.

The European Parliament said the commission should look into whether Privacy Shield provides enough personal data protection for EU citizens to comply with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will become law in 2018.

Lawyers said the European Commission may abandon the pact if it concludes that the US no longer affords EU citizens adequate data protection rights. The European Commission is set to review Privacy Shield in September.

Olivier Proust at Fieldfisher in Brussels said that companies are looking for legal certainty so that they can transfer personal data to the US without the risk of being caught up by the GDPR, under which companies can face fines of €20 million or 4% of global annual turnover, whichever is greater.

FRA's Toby Duthie commented that even before Trump, EU officials had concerns that the agreement may not be good enough, hence the scheduled review of the pact set for September. Duthie said that the question is, especially in a contentious legal context, "is it prudent to rely on Privacy Shield given the uncertainty?"

Read the full article in GIR

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