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U.S. NEWSWednesday 3 February
EU and U.S. reach new data-sharing agreement
PAN PYLAS Electronic screens post prices of Alphabet stock, Monday, Feb. 1, 2016, at the Nasdaq MarketSite She estimated it could take
LORNE COOK in New York. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reports quarterly earnings Monday. up to three months to make
Associated Press the deal binding, while U.S.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The Euro- Associated Press Secretary of Commerce
pean Union and the United Penny Pritzker said she ex-
States struck a deal Tues- the century. pact was invalid because Vera Jourova, the Europe- pected it to be in effect in
day over data-sharing that “This solution is much better it did not adequately pro- an Commissioner for Jus- a matter of weeks. Pritzker
will allow the likes of Face- than the one we had in the tect consumers where tice, said the deal is a land- said “it’s been a long road
book and Apple to contin- year 2000,” he said. their data was stored in mark as for the first time but we’ve turned the cor-
ue sending people’s infor- Under the new deal, there the U.S., in light of the spy- ever the U.S. has given the ner.”
mation across the Atlantic. will be an annual joint re- ing revelations made by EU “binding assurances” Industry groups heralded
The sides had been trying to view of the data-sharing Edward Snowden, a for- that the access of pub- the new deal, which they
forge an agreement since pact, with the first expect- mer contractor at the U.S.’s lic authorities for national called critical because of
October, when Europe’s ed sometime next year. National Security Agency. security purposes “will be the role cross-border data
top court struck down the The U.S. has also promised Snowden’s revelations had subject to clear limitations, flows play in the modern
previous pact — known as to appoint a new official prompted the complaint to safeguards and oversight economy.
Safe Harbor — amid con- — a so-called ombudsman the court from an Austrian mechanisms.”
cerns that Europeans’ per- based at the State Depart- law student, Max Schrems. Also for the first time, she “We welcome the agree-
sonal data stored by com- ment — responsible for fol- The pact, which had been said EU citizens will benefit ment, which will provide
panies in the U.S. might be lowing up on complaints used by around 4,500 com- from “redress mechanisms” strong privacy safeguards
exposed to spying by U.S. upon referral from EU data panies, had allowed the in this area. for consumers and legal
intelligence agencies. protection officers. easy transfer of data from “The U.S. has assured that it certainty for the thousands
the EU by having U.S. com- does not conduct mass or of companies that depend
The new deal, once put in “It’s Safe Harbor with teeth,” panies promise to provide indiscriminate surveillance on trans-Atlantic data
place, potentially brings said Dyann Heward-Mills, privacy protections equiva- of Europeans,” she said. flows,” said Christian Borg-
an end to a period of un- Head of Data Protection lent to those in the EU. The Jourova added that she’s green, international policy
certainty that had raised at London-based legal firm EU court’s ruling that the confident that the new ar- director at the U.S.-based
the prospect of legal chal- Baker & McKenzie. “I think pact was invalid opened rangements will withstand Computer & Communica-
lenges by individuals across this is good for business cer- up the possibility that data any future court challeng- tions Industry Association.
the 28-country EU worried tainty and consumer trust.” privacy officers across the es as the discussions used Others were a bit more
about privacy. In its October decision, the EU might be inundated by the court ruling to help “in cautious.
“Our people can be sure European Court of Justice complaints by consumers the formulation of the new Sophie in’t Veld, spokesper-
that their personal data is declared the Safe Harbor worried about their privacy. structure.” son for data protection for
fully protected,” said An- the ALDE alliance of liberals
drus Ansip, the European in the European Parliament,
Commissioner responsible said a legal appraisal of the
for the digital single market. safeguards offered by the
“Our businesses, especially U.S. is needed.
the smallest ones, have the “It is highly doubtful that
legal certainty they need they offer meaningful pro-
to develop their activities tection to European citi-
across the Atlantic.” zens, or if they meet the
Ansip said the new frame- standards set by the Euro-
work, which will be known pean Court of Justice,” she
as EU-US Privacy Shield, will said.
ensure the “right checks She noted that the assur-
and balances” for Euro- ances seem to rely exclu-
pean citizens and added sively on political commit-
that it “offers significant im- ment, instead of legal acts
provements” to the previ- so “any change in the po-
ous deal, which had been litical constellation in the
struck in the early days of U.S. may undo the whole
the Internet at the turn of thing.”q
