Why the “Privacy Shield” does not yet provide Security

Although the European Commission last week announced that they have agreed in principle with the US on new data transmission rules, according to the German Business Travel Association (VDR) it is believed that the situation is still quite uncertain.

The “Privacy Shield” is based on the assurance of the United States, that in future the access of US authorities to the data of EU citizens is controlled by clear rules and limits as well as monitoring. However, neither the EU Commission nor the US government have yet submitted any written draft, which means that the legal situation it still unsafe. For lawmakers to provide binding laws could still take a long time. This makes it especially difficult for companies to proceed, as the new agreement is not yet enforced. While some countries decided on an additional grace periods, meaning that no sanctions against companies are imposed, provided they deliver data to the US either using the European standard contractual clauses or binding corporate rules (BCR), others leave not just our industry in the dark. It is unfortunate that at this time there is a huge lack of transparency that does neither help the people who want to keep their personal information private, nor those who need to work with PII information and just want to do “the right thing.“


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