In its ruling last week, the court declared the Framework invalid because it fails to provide a level of protection for “the private lives and basic freedoms and rights of individuals” that is “essentially equivalent to that guaranteed within the EU.”
In invalidating the Safe Harbor Framework, the European Court of Justice concluded that the Federal Trade Commission failed to ensure U.S. companies’ compliance with the Framework’s requirements, the fundamental rights of EU citizens were undermined by U.S. intelligence agencies’ unfettered access to personal data, and that the Framework did not provide EU citizens with sufficient means to exercise their data protection rights or to challenge alleged violations.
More than 4,000 U.S. companies currently rely on the Framework. This ruling will force these companies to re-evaluate their existing procedures for transferring data out of the EU and will pressure representatives from the U.S. and EU to negotiate and develop a replacement. The European Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce have been negotiating modifications to the Framework since 2013 and this ruling will likely create a sense of urgency for these authorities come to an agreement on an acceptable replacement framework. Companies can also continue to transfer European data to the U.S. using one of the other existing data transfer methods, such as the “Standard Contractual Clauses” approved by the European Commission, or by relying on binding corporate rules.
Truescreen will continue to monitor developments in this area and ensure that our procedures for the transfer of personal data out of the EU continue to remain fully compliant with European law.
Source: What Does the European Court of Justice's Invalidation of the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework Mean For U.S.-Based Multinational Employers?, Littler Mendelson, P.C., 10/7/2015.
Posted: October 13, 2015