a job. The new data protection agreement between the European Union and the United States is in force

Three years after the end of the Privacy Shield agreement, a new data protection agreement between the European Union and the United States of America has entered into force. The partners had previously agreed to an agreement twice, and the European highest court twice overturned the regulation.

The European Union Commission announced on Monday in Brussels that the United States of America guarantees, with the new agreement, an adequate level of protection for personal data that is transmitted from the European Union to companies in America.

The new regulation introduces binding guarantees to address concerns previously expressed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The European Court of Justice overturned the Privacy Shield for data transfers from Europe across the Atlantic in July 2020 on the grounds that the level of data protection in the United States did not comply with EU standards.

Above all, the justices criticized the long-term access of US intelligence services to Europeans’ data. For companies, the ECJ ruling has created a great deal of legal uncertainty when transferring data between the USA and the EU. Privacy Shield was created in 2016 after the European Court of Justice overturned the earlier Safe Harbor regulation.

In the future, US secret services may only access the data if it is necessary and proportionate, according to the EU Commission. In addition, a data protection review tribunal will be set up. “The new data protection framework between the EU and the US will ensure safe data flows for Europeans and create legal certainty for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

MK