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 The United States and Washington accelerated negotiations on a new
framework enabling firms to easily transfer personal data across the
Atlantic after the previous one was struck down by a top EU court
last year on concerns about U.S. snooping.
Under European Union data protection law, companies cannot transfer
EU citizens' personal data to countries outside the bloc deemed to
have insufficient privacy safeguards, of which the United States is
one.
Since the EU's highest court ruled on Oct. 6 that the 15-year-old
Safe Harbour framework, used by over 4,000 firms to transfer
Europeans' data to the United States, did not adequately protect the
data because U.S. national security requirements trumped privacy
safeguards, firms on both sides of the Atlantic have been in legal
limbo.
In a letter, seen by Reuters, to U.S. President Barack Obama,
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the 28
European heads of state, four business associations warned of the
dire economic impact if data flows between the two blocs were
disrupted.
"This issue must be resolved immediately or the consequences could
be enormous for the thousands of businesses and millions of users
impacted," the letter from U.S. Chamber of Commerce, BusinessEurope,
DigitalEurope and the Information Technology Industry Council says.
(http://bit.ly/1OqqMKX)
The groups also ask for a transition period to comply with any
revised data transfer framework, especially for those small and
medium-sized businesses that relied entirely on Safe Harbour.
IMPENDING DEADLINE
European Union data protection authorities gave Brussels and
Washington until the end of January to forge a new pact and
businesses the same deadline to set up alternative legal channels to
transfer personal data across the Atlantic, such as binding
corporate rules within multinationals or model clauses.
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While a political agreement may be possible in that time, ironing
out the legal details will take longer, according to a person
familiar with the talks.
However the business groups warn that all data transfer mechanisms
are in jeopardy as a result of the EU ruling, something echoed by
lawyers, and that could impact nearly all financial transactions
between the two largest economies in the world.
"We therefore urge your leadership to ensure a durable legal
framework for transatlantic data flows in the future," the letter
says.
EU privacy regulators are due to meet on Feb. 2 to decide if they
should start taking enforcement action against companies if they
come to the conclusion that all transfer mechanisms fall foul of EU
law and there is no new framework in place.
Revelations two years ago of mass U.S. surveillance programs where
American authorities collected private information directly from big
tech firms like Apple, Facebook and Google riled Europe and set the
stage for the European Court of Justice ruling.
(Editing by Ros Russell)
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