If so you need to know about the “Privacy Shield”

In a high profile case last year, the European Courts decided that personal data could no longer be transferred to the USA under the Safe Harbor scheme. This had previously allowed EU companies to send personal information to American companies who complied with a number of “safe harbor” principles.

This case has major implications for many organisations on both sides of the Atlantic and it has led to negotiations between the European Commission and the US government resulting in the announcement at the beginning of February of the new “Privacy Shield”.

There is little information available about this new scheme yet and the European Commission has been given until the end of February 2016 to work out the detail. Europe’s data protection watchdog known as the Article 29 Working Group will then look at the proposals and give its view. The Article 29 Working Group is also going to consider the legality of the model contract clauses and Binding Corporate Rules as a tool for transferring personal data.

The Article 29 Working Group press release is available here.

It is unclear at this stage what format the new regulations will have or how long it will take for a new system to be implemented. As soon as the new scheme is finalised, we will update all of our clients.

For specialist advice on data protection issues, contact Tracey Wakelam at traceywakelam@www.probertlegal.com