Brussels, 09/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday evening 8 September, the European Commissioner for Justice, Vera Jourova, announced that negotiations with the US on the Umbrella Agreement on data protection had been finalised after four years of discussions.
Jourova was pleased that once in force“this agreement will guarantee a high level of protection of all personal data when transferred between law enforcement authorities across the Atlantic”, similarly to the PNR agreement on the transfer of airline passenger data. The key to this framework agreement will be the fact that Europeans will have the right to request compensation on US soil if their personal data is used inappropriately.
In a press release, Jourova explained: “Robust cooperation between the EU and the US to fight crime and terrorism is crucial to keep Europeans safe. But all exchanges of personal data, such as criminal records, names or addresses, need to be governed by strong data protection rules. This is what the Umbrella Agreement will ensure”.
The text of the Umbrella Agreement is expected to serve as the model standard for all existing and future transatlantic police and legal cooperation instruments. The US Congress will now need to adopt its Judicial Redress Bill, which will grant these new rights to Europeans. It is on the basis of this adoption that the framework agreement can definitively be concluded.
The EU-US data protection “Umbrella Agreement” provides guidelines for the length of time in which data can be retained within the context of the instruments concluded and attempts to limit the scope of use of this data, which can only be used for purposes pertaining to the fight against criminality and terrorism. Nonetheless, the Umbrella Agreement does not define any precise limit and only explains that this period should not exceed “what is necessary or appropriate”. The planned period of retention is, however, expected to be made public.
The Commissioner said that she was still confident that discussions being carried out at the same time on the Safe Harbour mechanism focusing on personal data exchanges to US companies such as Google or Facebook in the commercial field, would be concluded very soon. She had, nonetheless, expressed the same hope last June when she promised that the conclusions of these negotiations would take place over the next few weeks (see EUROPE 11327).
On 23 September next, the Advocate General at the European Court of Justice will give his verdict on the conclusions involving the 'Schrems against Facebook Ireland' case. These conclusions were originally expected last June (see EUROPE 11331). This case specifically deals with the question of the legality or not of the Safe Harbour mechanism. (Solenn Paulic)