Private data security

European Union: EU Data Protection Authorities: Privacy Shield Needs More Work

European Data Protection Authorities have announced that, in their view, further work is required to ensure the proposed EU-US Privacy Shield provides sufficient protection to European data transferred to the United States.

In a press conference this afternoon, the Article 29 Working Party (Art 29WP) - the body of European Data Protection Authorities - confirmed it would not approve Privacy Shield in its current form and urged the European Commission to resolve some key issues and provide further clarifications.

However, it is not clear whether the European Commission will seek to re-open its negotiations with the United States government to accommodate the non-binding opinion of the Art 29WP. Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, Chairman of the Art 29WP and French Data Protection Authority, implied at the press conference that it does not expect to issue any further opinion on Privacy Shield and that they will await the European Commission's formal position on the adequacy of the scheme.

While this leaves organisations with continued uncertainty regarding international transfers of personal data – until at least June or possibly September – there was some comfort as it was confirmed that other solutions for international transfers currently remain unchanged following this review.