Brussels, 07/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 7 April in Brussels, the European Commissioner for Justice, Vera Jourova, is expected to meet US Republican Representative, Jim Sensenbrenner, the author of the law currently being discussed. This meeting should help to extend the rights of data appeals by Europeans in US courts, as part of the dispute involving the use of their data under the Patriot Act.
On 18 March last, the representatives, Jim Sensenbrenner and John Conyers, introduced the Judicial Redress Act 2015 to the US Congress. In a press release on 18 March, during the presentation of the law to Congress, the two US representatives explained that the law is expected to extend the basic advantages that US citizens enjoy under the Patriot Act to the nationals of the US's main allies. It is also expected to build mutual trust between the US and their counterparts when police and legal cooperation is involved, according to the authors of the proposal.
Opportunities to make appeals, even if they are exclusively restricted to the Patriot Act, are one of the conditions demanded by the Europeans in exchange for finalising the transatlantic framework agreement on personal data protection, which have been the subject of negotiations since 2010. The European Commission is also expecting improvements to the Safe Harbour mechanism, which governs the transfer of personal data to US companies such as Facebook and Google. (Solenn Paulic)