Brussels, 27/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - The Article 29 Working Party (WP29), which brings together the data protection authorities of the 29 EU member states highlighted a number of negative points, on Tuesday 26 July, that remain in the new system for the transfer commercial data between the EU and the United States, the famous “Privacy Shield” that was adopted by the Commission on 12 July.
In a press release published on 26 July, WP29 welcomed the improvements brought by the Privacy Shield mechanism compared to the previous Safe Harbour, which was invalidated by the Court of Justice of the EU in October of last year, and was pleased that the Commission and US negotiators had tried to address its concerns. However, WP29 says, a number of these concerns remain with regard to both the commercial aspects and the access by US public authorities to data transferred from the EU, an area in which provisions are still not strong enough.
Even though the United States has made a commitment not to conduct mass and indiscriminate collection of personal data, WP29 regrets the lack of concrete assurances that such practices do not take place. It would also have liked the new US ombudsman responsible for handling the complaints from European citizens to have given stronger assurances on the level of his independence and on his way of working.
The first annual joint review of the new Privacy Shield will be decisive in determining whether the safeguards are workable and effective, WP29 states. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)