Brussels, 01/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 30 May, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) pointed out the weaknesses of the new Privacy Shield framework for transferring data for commercial use between the EU and US, a few days after the European Parliament did the same in a non-legislative resolution (see EUROPE 11559).
The EDPS, Giovanni Buttarelli from Italy, considered that the Privacy Shield framework was again likely to be challenged before the European Court of Justice, as its predecessor, Safe Harbor, had been (see EUROPE 11501 and 11481).
Buttarelli is of the opinion that substantial improvements must be made to the Privacy Shield arrangement before the European Commission adopts its decision on adequacy - especially on the aspects of necessity, proportionality and the routes of appeal for European citizens. He would also like more safeguards to be added regarding mass monitoring and the obligations of supervision.
The Commission is currently discussing these potential improvements with the US. According to a source, these discussions are going quite well and new documents could be added to the texts that have already been agreed - but some of the European Parliament's demands seem unachievable, such as that of encouraging the US to change its legislation. The Commission still aims to finalise these talks at the end of June or in early July.
The Privacy Shield arrangement is not officially on the agenda of the informal Interior and Justice meeting between the EU and US, which is taking place in Amsterdam on Thursday 2 June. However, the Commission is expected to sign the transatlantic framework agreement that day on the protection of personal data (the umbrella agreement), which was made concrete in February by the adoption of the US Judicial Redress Act, and which will offer Europeans the right to appeal on US soil when their data has been misused (see EUROPE 11499). The European Parliament is still due to give its agreement. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)