Step forward on one of the thorniest transatlantic dossiers, that of the Privacy Shield. Flanked by the American head of state, Joe Biden , the president of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced the achievement of a general agreement between the European Union and the United States on the transatlantic flow of data.
According to the preliminary agreement, the new regulatory framework “will enable predictable and reliable data flows” across the Atlantic, “balancing security, the right to privacy and data protection,” von der Leyen said. In practice, it will allow the data of European citizens to be saved and managed on American territory, without compromising the protection of the laws of the Old Continent.
The dossier had been stalled since July 2020, when the European Court of Justice invalidated the Privacy Shield – the agreement that governed the transatlantic flow of personal data for commercial reasons – in a ruling known as Schrems II. In summary, there was a lack of sufficient American guarantees on compliance with European data.
Since then (and so far) the negotiations have been difficult and unsuccessful. Brussels demanded that Washington change its digital surveillance rules, the Americans disagreed at all. But if taken to the extreme, this stalemate would have immeasurably damaged the economy on both sides of the Atlantic.
The data continued to flow as if nothing had happened, but a series of lawsuits were widening the cracks on the already precarious legal infrastructure: some national regulators began to reckon with the consequences of Schrems II by evoking the specter of the termination of certain services. Americans (such as Google Analyitcs, vital for European companies of all sizes).
The announcement, in this sense, is a real turning point: it reassures companies operating on both sides, and in the future it should give stainless assurances that Europeans can use American technological services without fear. Probably this decision-making is due to war, at least in part, as happened for the European ecological transition.
According to von der Leyen, the EU and the US have “managed to balance security and the right to privacy and data protection”. Biden said the deal “underscores our common commitment to privacy, data protection and the rule of law” and would allow European authorities “to re-authorize transatlantic data streams that help facilitate 7.1 trillion dollars of economic relations “.
However, the announcement was not accompanied by a formal text or further evidence of the progress of the negotiations. Skepticism on the part of Max Schrems , the Austrian activist behind the homonymous ruling, according to which the matter will return to the attention of the Court within months of the final decision – a position shared by many observers.
But elsewhere there is cautious optimism: according to Caitlin Fennessy , vice president of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, it seems that the two sides are really close to a lasting solution. “Had they wanted a temporary solution, they could have concluded the talks months ago,” she said. Eyes on the Trade and Technology Council (the TTC), the fruits of which will be presented in May.
Image: Twitter profile of Ursula von der Leyen
