US President Joe Biden, right, arrives with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on 15 June 2021.
Thierry Monas | Bloomberg via Getty Images
The European Union and the United States said on Friday they had agreed “in principle” to a new framework for cross-border data transfer, providing some much-needed relief for technology giants such as Meta and Google.
For more than a year, officials on both sides of the Atlantic have been preparing an agreement to replace the so-called Privacy Shield, an agreement that allows companies to share European data with the United States.
The Privacy Shield was annulled in July 2020, striking Facebook and other companies that relied on the mechanism for their EU-US data flows. The EU’s Supreme Court has sided with Max Schrems, an Austrian privacy activist, who says the current framework does not protect Europeans from US surveillance.
“This framework underscores our shared commitment to privacy, data protection and the rule of law,” President Joe Biden said Friday, adding that the smooth flow of data “will help facilitate $ 7.1 trillion in economic relations.” with the EU. “
The new agreement “will allow for predictable and reliable data flows between the EU and the US, while guaranteeing privacy and civil liberties,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday, without offering much further details on how will work.
News of the agreement will offer some respite for Meta and many other companies facing legal uncertainty about how they are moving data across borders following the decision to remove Privacy Shield. Meta suggested that he may even have to shut down Facebook and Instagram in Europe because of the problem.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said the deal “will provide invaluable security for US and European companies of all sizes, including Meta, which relies on fast and secure data transfers.”
“With growing concerns about the global fragmentation of the Internet, this agreement will help people stay connected and services work,” he said on Twitter.
Google Global Affairs President Kent Walker also welcomed the development.
“People want to be able to use digital services from anywhere in the world and know that their information is safe and secure when communicating across borders,” Walker said in an email statement.
“We welcome the work done by the European Commission and the US Government to reach an agreement on a new EU-US framework and to protect transatlantic data transfer.”
However, Guillaume Cuneson, a data protection partner at Linklaters, warned that it was too early to say whether the new agreement stood the test of time. Privacy Shield itself was a replacement for Safe Harbor, an earlier EU-US data pact.
“This new decision will have to withstand the scrutiny of the oversight bodies and privacy activists who removed the previous two,” Kuneson said.
Schrems, who played an important role in the removal of both the Privacy Shield and Safe Harbor, said the “final text” of the new agreement would take longer to be drafted. But he added that he was ready to challenge it “if it is not in line with EU law”.
“Eventually, [EU] The court will decide for the third time. We expect this to be returned to the Court within months of the final decision, “Schrems said in a statement.
The deal was announced along with a separate agreement with the United States to supply energy to Europe, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens to disrupt the continent’s energy supplies.