European Commission defence of European rights sinks in an unsafe harbour
Following the decision of the European Court of Justice to overturn the EU/US “Safe Harbor” Agreement last year, EU/US negotiations have been ongoing to reach a new deal, which would facilitate transfer of data across the Atlantic. Having failed to reach an agreement before 1 February, the European Commission today announced plans to back down from defending the European Court’s ruling and to accept a new badly flawed arrangement.
The emperor is trying on a new set of clothes. Today’s announcement means that European citizens and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic face an extended period of uncertainty while waiting for this new stop-gap solution to fail.
said Joe McNamee, Executive Director of European Digital Rights.
Among the proposals are an “exchange of letters” to permit Europe to receive assurances from the outgoing US President that non-US data will be processed in ways that are strictly necessary and proportionate – i.e. not subject to mass surveillance.
The new arrangement will rely on additional legal instruments, which are also likely to fail to achieve their intended goals. At a meeting in the European Parliament last night, Commissioner Jourová was asked repeatedly for her views on flaws in the crucial Judicial Redress Act and the EU/US Umbrella Agreement. She refused to address either problem.
Parliamentarians from across the political spectrum last night repeatedly accused the United States of not taking the negotiations seriously. Seeing fatal problems being built into the Judicial Redress Act, seeing the adoption of the secret data-sharing provisions in the Cybersecurity Act and seeing the lack of any meaningful reforms on the US side, it is hard to disagree.
Read more:
Why is Safe Harbour II such a challenge?
https://edri.org/safe-harbour-negotiations/
Access Now, EDRi on data protection: “No Safe Harbour 2.0 without reform on both sides of the Atlantic”
https://edri.org/access-now-edri-on-data-protection-no-safe-harbour-2-0-without-reform-on-both-sides-of-the-atlantic/