In a controversial context, American President Joe Biden signed a new framework on Friday on Friday proposing a transatlantic data transfer.
by
This is a “new step” which Washington welcomes in an ultra-sensitive file: Friday October 7, American President Joe Biden signed a decree allowing to advance in the implementation of a new framework for the transfer of personal data between the European Union and the United States. This document extends the political agreement announced at the end of March by Mr. Biden and the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. The European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders praised an “important step”.
The stake is in size because the previous agreement, appointed Privacy Shield, was invalidated by European justice in July 2020. The judges had indeed judged that certain US extraterritorial laws gave the authorities and intelligence services of the States- United Access to data from Europeans deemed disproportionate and insufficiently framed. This decision has created a legal uncertainty involving the legality of the services in Europe of Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft … and has pushed certain European states, including France, to strengthen their data sovereignty policies, especially in matters online accommodation in the “cloud”.
As soon as this Friday announces, the lobbies of digital giants have rejoiced: “Data transfers are at the heart of the transatlantic relationship and feed the trade that helps our savings to function, for the benefit of citizens and Companies, who need legal clarity on these questions, “wrote the professional association CCIA (Computer and Communications Industry Association). “We appreciate the attention paid by the Biden administration on this crucial subject and look forward to working with the EU to implement the agreement in the coming months,” said ITI (Information Technology Industry Council) .
“The decree fully responds to the Schrems II decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union,” said Secretary of State for American Trade Gina Raimondo, in reference to activist Max Schrems, who filed The complaint at the origin of the invalidation of Privacy Shield and its predecessor Le Safe Harbor, in 2015.
Concretely, the decree adds “safeguards” so that, in particular, that US intelligence agencies do not require access to European data “only when they pursue a national security objective” and “proportionate”. Above all, it offers a mechanism of appeal, on two levels, for European citizens who consider themselves injured: one with an officer responsible for the protection of civil freedoms with the American intelligence department, the other with of an independent court formed by the Ministry of Justice.
You have 47.89% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.