Brussels, 09/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - The opinion of EU Court of Justice Advocate General Yves Bot in the case involving Max Schrems (case C-362/14) and the so-called Safe Harbour agreement will not be delivered on 24 June as scheduled, the Court announced on Tuesday 9 June, without giving any reasons for the delay or giving any indication of when the opinion might be expected.
This extremely sensitive case seeks to establish the legality of this light transfer of the personal data of European citizens to American commercial companies - a measure which internet giants like Google, Yahoo and Facebook make use of and one which the Commission is seeking to improve.
Initial arguments were heard on 24 March in this case which pits the well-known Austrian activist Max Schrems against the Irish data protection regulator and Facebook. A question was put to the Court of Justice by the High Court of Ireland following the complaint lodged by Schrems with the independent officer responsible for implementing data protection legislation.
In his complaint, Schrems argues that (US) law and practice do not provide sufficient protection. The famous Austrian “student” lodged his complaint before the Edward Snowden revelations which, lifting the veil on NSA activities, caused the European Commission itself to ask questions about Safe Harbour.
In Riga last week, the United States undertook swiftly to meet the final Commission demands on Safe Harbour, in particular those relating to the role of agencies such as the NSA. The US, however, is almost a year behind the timetable initially set by the Commission in summer 2014. (Solenn Paulic)