Even though the European Comission was in favor in December of approving the data privacy pact between the EU and the United States, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament has decided to stop all negotiations because it does not trust the methods of handling personal information of European citizens by US companies.
The decision to reject the Transatlantic Data Policy Framework comes from a consideration that it does not comply with the privacy regulations of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), seeing how the policy currently implemented by the US could jeopardize the security of users. With this measure, confidential information could be manipulated, without judicial authorization, if the objective was to ensure national security.
According to the European body, the protection offered by the Biden Administration it is insufficient, since it could finally be communicated to other institutions or modified at any time. The executive order is ‘too vague’, they point out, since the US courts would be the only ones responsible for interpreting the policy of collection and massive manipulation of data. In this sense, the US government is governed by regulations such as the patriot act wave Cloud Lawwhich have no place in the old continent.
The answer of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has not been long in coming and they brand the EU as not having enacted significant surveillance reform. For the European Union Committee, the US still does not have a federal data protection law and considers it incompatible with the GDPR framework. However, and despite the opposition of this body, it is something non-binding and the deal could move forward without any impediment.
According to the executive vice president of public policies of Interactive Advertising Bureauauau, which supported the draft Transatlantic Data Policy Framework, the committee’s decision comes as no surprise. Always, he assures, he expresses a particular point of view on issues related to privacy and civil liberties. Now what will have to be analyzed is what the European Commission decides in this regard; if he goes ahead or is swayed by this controversial opinion.
The background of the European Commission
The European Commission announced in mid-December the start of the approval process for the EU-US data privacy framework to allow the flow of data between the two territories, guaranteeing the privacy of users. It is contradictory what the Committee thinks in comparison with the idea of the European Commission two months ago, since it assured that the legislation guaranteed a adequate level of protection for the transferred data to American companies.
As a result of this new agreement between the US-EU, companies must comply with a series of privacy regulations, deleting personal data when it is not necessary if the purpose for which it was collected was fulfilled and guaranteeing continuity of protection when the data is shared with third parties. In this sense, EU citizens benefit from avenues of repair if your personal data is handled in violation of the framework set by the Data Protection Review Tribunal newly created
V?ra Jourová, vice president for values and transparency of the Commission, ensures that democracies must defend the fundamental rights of citizens, such as data protection, and more in an increasingly digitized economy. In this sense, she defends that the Transatlantic Data Policy Framework safeguards her. And it is that it comes to replace previous agreements such as the Privacy Shieldpreviously canceled by the Court of Justice of the European Union.
If everything continues to progress at a good pace, the Framework is expected to be fully approved by next spring.
