The EU's top court rejected the United States and Europe's data-sharing agreement on Thursday, July 16. Time reported that the national regulators are trying to protect the privacy of user's data from the risks of the EU-US data transfer agreement may cause.
E.U.’s Top Court Invalidates Data-Sharing Agreement With U.S. July 16, 2020 at 05:48AM pic.twitter.com/ysr1O0BQ8L — Marcus Vinicius Magalhães ® | (@MVinicius_BJJ) July 16, 2020
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According to Techcrunch's latest report, the EU-US agreement called "Privacy Shield" was struck down after a highly anticipated ruling by Europe's top court was done. However, the invalidation does not mean a sudden halt to all data transfers beyond Europe since there is another legal mechanism that some companies can still use. A new system must still be developed to guarantee that Europeans' data will have the same privacy protection in the United States.
"The Court of Justice invalidates Decision 2016/1250 on the adequacy of the protection provided by the EU-US Data Protection Shield," written in a press release.
The CJEU's finding suggested that Privacy Shield might interfere with the fundamental rights of those individuals whose personal data are transferred to the U.S. since the requirements, law enforcement, and public interest of the third country have primacy. The case started in 2013 after the American government was revealed by a former U.S. National Security Agency contractor, Edward Snowden, to spying on people's data and communications.
The detail was also revealed on how Facebook provided the U.S. agencies with access to Europeans' personal data. A complaint was filed by an Australian activist and law student, Max Schrems, saying that the U.S. should not be allowed to received personal data since the data protection there is not as efficient compared in E.U. A system known as GDPR makes Europe's data privacy rules as one of the toughest.
Some are disappointed with the decision
Europe's decision does not relieve participating companies or other organizations of their obligations with Privacy Shield.
"While the Department of Commerce is deeply disappointed that the court appears to have invalidated the European Commission's adequacy decision underlying the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, we are still studying the decision to fully understand its practical impacts," said the U.S. secretary of commerce, Wilbur Ross.
An EU court just killed a vital U.S. data-sharing agreement. Some say global trade is at risk https://t.co/jYCArXPh6Z pic.twitter.com/MlGBYCwO3d — Andy Vermaut (@AndyVermaut) July 16, 2020
Ross also said that they are still hoping that the negative consequences to the $7.1 trillion transatlantic economic relationships can be lessened because it is important to respective citizens, companies, and governments in the U.S. He also confirmed that the U.S. will still remain in close contact with the European Data Protection Board and European Commission regarding the matter.
It was explained that data flows are also essential to businesses of all sizes in every sector. The report claimed that it is important for companies to transfer data without interruption.
