Luxembourg, 09/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Ministers of justice, meeting in Luxembourg on Friday 9 October, discussed the ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU on 6 October invalidating the Safe Harbor adequacy decision on the commercial transfer of personal data to the United States, forming the view that this was a particularly important ruling for fundamental rights in Europe and one that will have a very definite economic impact, said Luxembourg Justice Minister Félix Braz.
The minister suggested the ruling strengthened the powers and independence of national data protection authorities and that it sent a clear message to third countries that EU data protection rules had to be respected. He said that the general regulation on data protection, on which a general approach was reached in June, had already anticipated the role conferred on data protection authorities and “strengthens” their role. In his view, the directive adopted that very morning on the transfer of data between law enforcement authorities also enhances the protection given to personal data transferred abroad.
The ruling, however, poses a headache, for instance, for the European Commission, Braz added, calling for a joint, coordinated response to the judgment. He said that, in future, closer monitoring of adequacy decisions - where the Commission decides whether the level of data protection offered by a third country is sufficient or not - will be required.
European Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said that, on Thursday 8 October, she had spoken to her US counterpart Penny Pritzker and would travel to Washington in November. The commissioner said she wanted to speed up discussions on a new Safe Harbor and, at the same time, make efforts to enhance protection for European citizens and reassure companies that transatlantic data flows will continue smoothly. She said that she had spoken with Pritzker mainly about the impact on companies and data flows, with a feeling of urgency. She pointed out that, Safe Harbor having been invalidated, provisions in the 1995 data protection directive allowed data transfers to the United States, but these could only be provisional, given the great amount of data transferred between the EU and the US. She urged the US to speed up discussions on the new framework, and teams from the two parties will meet all of next week. Jourova also indicated that the Commission was assessing the criteria used in adequacy decisions in light of what the Court had said about these criteria and that a new Safe Harbor framework would necessarily imply new adequacy decisions. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)