Safe Harbor Invalidation

Cooley (UK) partner Ann Bevitt discusses the ramifications of the Safe Harbor invalidation on BBC World News.

Background

Following a September 23, 2015 opinion by Advocate General (AG) Bot that the US-EU Safe Harbor framework, which provided for the "safe" transfer of personal data from the EU to the US, did not provide sufficient guarantees for the protection of the rights of EU citizens, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidated the Safe Harbor framework.

EU and US authorities have been renegotiating the Safe Harbor framework for the past two years. The CJEU's decision, however, places additional pressure on both sides to finalize negotiations. On October 16, 2015, the Article 29 Working Party, an influential advisory group made up of representatives from the data protection authority of each EU Member State, injected additional urgency into the talks when it announced that a new data sharing agreement should be in place by the end of January 2016, otherwise "coordinated enforcement actions" against companies unlawfully transferring data may be considered.

For more information

• What's in a Name? Privacy Shield Replaces Safe Harbor
• Safe No More: The long-awaited decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Safe Harbour prompts a robust reaction among data protection lawyers (subscription required)
• US House Passes Judicial Redress Act to Facilitate Safe Harbor Negotiations
• Still Not Safe: The Global Impact of Safe Harbor Ruling
• Safe Harbor Ripples Affect EU Student Data at US Schools
• Unsafe Harbor: Online Retailers
• Unsafe Harbor: Social Media
• No More Safe Harbor: What Should Life Sciences and Biotech Companies Be Doing to Transfer Data to the US?
• Not So Safe: CJEU Follows Advocate General's Opinion, Declaring Safe Harbor Invalid
• An Unsafe Harbor? What Companies Need to do in Light of the Advocate General's Opinion in Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner

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