Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) issued a press release today on a letter and brief the two organizations sent to European Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Vera Jourova arguing for invalidation of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield.  The letter and brief can be found here.  On substance of the criticism, these groups continue to sell the U.S. surveillance framework short, failing to recognize extensive transparency and safeguards that underlie the U.S. framework.  That aside, invalidation on these terms is not appropriate because the European Commission’s reasoned and detailed adequacy decision was based on information about U.S. surveillance practices and laws that the Commission had when the decision was released on July 12, 2016. After reviewing the commitments self-certifying organizations would make under the privacy shield and the enforcement mechanisms available under U.S. law, the Commission said, “the United States ensures an a ...

On July 12, 2016, the European Commission adopted the EU-US Privacy Shield, the successor to the 2000 U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework. The Privacy Shield is a critical tool allowing U.S. companies to transfer personal data from Europe to the United States in a way which complies with European laws and regulations. However, there are many details that are important for U.S. businesses to be aware of.