We left for a ride. Washington and Brussels announced on Friday that they had reached an agreement in principle on a new framework for the transfer of personal data from the European Union to the United States, crucial for the digital economy, after the invalidation of the previous devices by justice European.
A new sign of closer transatlantic ties, the announcement, made in Brussels by US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, comes after months of negotiations.
Privacy campaigner Max Schrems immediately threatened to take further legal action against the future mechanism, which was hailed by tech giants. The latter complained of being in the dark since the invalidation in July 2020 by European justice of the system of “Privacy Shield” (“privacy shield”) allowing these data transfers, due to fears over US surveillance programs.
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Since then, companies operating in the EU and transferring or hosting data across the Atlantic have been using legal patches. They resort to alternative solutions, with more uncertain legality, to continue these transfers, while waiting for a more solid and sustainable system.
Max Schrems has taken on these temporary arrangements and his NGO, NOYB, has filed dozens of complaints against Google across Europe. Manifest proof of an increase in pressure: Meta (Facebook) had in its annual report – published on February 3 on the website of the American regulator of the financial markets, the SEC – indicated that if it was no longer possible for it to transmit to United States data collected in Europe, it would only be “probably better able to offer many of (its) most important products and services, Facebook and Instagram included”.
High-tech giants are satisfied
The new agreement “underlines our shared commitment to privacy, data protection and the rule of law”, said Joe Biden during a press conference with Ursula von der Leyen. He “will facilitate the economic relationship with the EU which weighs 7,100 billion dollars (about 6,400 billion euros)”he said.
“Privacy and security are key elements of my digital agenda,” he assured, adding that the arrangement found “improved” the Privacy Shieldand “would help small and large companies to be competitive in the digital economy”.
The head of the European executive also welcomed this agreement which “will enable predictable and reliable data flows between the EU and the US, while safeguarding privacy and individual freedoms”.
The tech giants obviously hailed a deal who “will restore legal certainty for companies and strengthen guarantees for users”, in a statement from the Computer & Communications Industry Association. The Software Alliancebringing together the main companies specializing in the cloud, urged the two parties to “quickly conclude the negotiations”.
For its part, Google explained in a press release:
“Internet users want to be able to use digital services anywhere in the world and know that their information is safe and protected as it travels across borders. We welcome the efforts undertaken by the European Commission and the US government to agree on a new US-EU framework and protect transatlantic data transfers. »
Uncertainty is not really lifted yet
But in the long term, the game is far from over. In July 2020, in a resounding judgment, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that the Privacy Shieldused by 5,000 American companies, including giants like Google or Amazon, did not protect possible “interferences with the fundamental rights of the persons whose data are transferred”.
The 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 Shieldthe Safe Harbor.
The Austrian jurist continues in this vein. He has already denounced on Friday the absence of “substantial reform on the American side”.
“The final text will still take time, but as soon as it is available we will analyze it thoroughly (…) If it does not comply with EU law, we or others will probably take it up. righteousness”, he warned, doing the “betting a priori that it will still fail”.
Because, for the moment, nothing says that the bottom of the problem is really solved, namely the access to European personal data by the American intelligence agencies.