Personal data: Joe Biden signs a decree for a new framework in the transfer between EU and… – 20 Minutes

This is a file that has dragged on for years and could finally pick up speed. US President Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order allowing progress in the implementation of a new framework for the transfer of personal data from the European Union to the United States, crucial for the digital economy. Washington and Brussels had reached an agreement in principle on this subject in March, previous drafts having been rejected by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) due to fears about American surveillance programs. The signing of the decree by the US president will allow the European Commission to begin its own ratification process, which is expected to take several months. “This is the culmination of our joint efforts to restore confidence and stability in transatlantic data flows,” US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said during a briefing with reporters. text strengthens measures to ensure confidentiality and protection of civil liberties in US surveillance programs targeting data collected in Europe and transferred or hosted across the Atlantic. It also creates an independent and binding mechanism allowing individuals from eligible states to seek redress if they believe their personal data has been unlawfully collected by US Intelligence. This mechanism provides for two levels of appeal, one with an officer in charge of the protection of civil liberties with the American intelligence directorate, the other with an independent tribunal formed by the Department of Justice. “These commitments fully respond to the Schrems II decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union and will cover transfers of personal data to the United States under EU law,” said Gina Raimondo. In July 2020, the Court found that the “Privacy Shield”, used by 5,000 American companies, including giants such as Google or Amazon, did not protect possible “interferences in the fundamental rights of the persons whose data is transferred”. Complaint against FacebookThe case was launched by a complaint against Facebook by Max Schrems, a figure in the fight for data protection, already at the origin of the 2015 judgment on the ancestor of the “Privacy Shield”, “Safe Harbor It is possible that the new version will again be challenged in court, acknowledged US administration officials during the briefing. But it was designed to respond to previous reservations from European justice, they assured. The CJEU’s decision had plunged companies operating in the EU into legal uncertainty that transfer or host data across the Atlantic. They have since resorted to alternative solutions, with more uncertain legality, to continue these transfers, while waiting for a more solid and sustainable system.