New agreement between the European Union and the US on the use of cloud systems

Regarding the European Court ruling that annulled Safe Harbour, The European Union and the United States have reached a political agreement called the EU-US Privacy Shield on the new legal framework that covers transfers of personal data between Europe and the US.

Although it is currently a political agreement and the legal content is expected to be drafted within the next three months, these are some of the most relevant aspects of the negotiations:

• The Privacy Shield is intended to be a living legal instrument that can be reviewed and modified continuously in accordance with the specific situations at the time.
• Existence of binding guarantees (limits and control mechanisms) by the US Security Agencies.
• Establishment of a sanctioning framework for companies that fail to comply with the agreement, with the possibility of expelling them from it.
• Access by European citizens to US courts if their rights regarding the protection of personal data have been violated.
• Continued monitoring of the implementation of the new agreement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the European Commission.
• Inclusion of new obligations that companies subject to the agreement will have to implement.

We will have to wait for the official statement from the different Data Protection Authorities, in our case the AEPD, to assess whether this agreement translates into a new extension to adapt international data transfers while awaiting the final text.

Therefore, we think that, in light of the above, For now, we must continue to operate normally using the cloud tools we already have in place, and Auris Advocats will keep you informed of any relevant developments in this area.