PH Privacy

US-EU Joint Statement: Privacy Shield

August 11, 2020

Behnam Dayanim and Daniel Julian

On August 10, 2020, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders released a joint press statement (“Statement”) addressing the recent Schrems II ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU”).
As previously reported (here), a decision on July 16, 2020 from the CJEU invalidated Commission Decision 2016/1250, also known as EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, as a mechanism for transferring personal data from the E.U. to the U.S. Notably, as part of the same decision, the CJEU also evaluated the Commission Decision (2010/87/EU) on standard contractual clauses (“SCCs”) for the transfer of personal data to processors established in third countries, considering them to still be valid.

According to the Statement, the parties have “initiated discussions to evaluate the potential for an enhanced EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework”. Further, the statement underscores the U.S. Department of Commerce’s and the European Commission’s recognition of the “vital importance of data protection”, as well as the “significance of cross-border data transfers” to both the economies and residents of the U.S. and EU.

The official statement is available from both the (https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2020/08/joint-press-statement-us-secretary-commerce-wilbur-ross-and-european target=) and the European Commission Statement.