BY JULIA FIORETTI AND DUSTIN
VOLZ
The two largest American and European trade
groups have warned of "enormous" consequences for thousands of
businesses and millions of users if Brussels and Washington fail to wrap up
talks on a data transfer pact by the end of the month.
The United States and Washington accelerated
negotiations on a new framework enabling firms to easily transfer personal data
across the Atlantic after the previous one was struck down by a top EU court
last year on concerns about U.S. snooping.
Under European Union data protection law,
companies cannot transfer EU citizens' personal data to countries outside the
bloc deemed to have insufficient privacy safeguards, of which the United States
is one.
Since the EU's highest court ruled on Oct. 6
that the 15-year-old Safe Harbour framework, used by over 4,000 firms to
transfer Europeans' data to the United States, did not adequately protect the
data because U.S. national security requirements trumped privacy safeguards,
firms on both sides of the Atlantic have been in legal limbo.
In a letter, seen by Reuters, to U.S. President
Barack Obama, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the 28
European heads of state, four business associations warned of the dire economic
impact if data flows between the two blocs were disrupted.
"This issue must be resolved immediately or
the consequences could be enormous for the thousands of businesses and millions
of users impacted," the letter from U.S. Chamber of Commerce,
BusinessEurope, DigitalEurope and the Information Technology Industry Council
says. (bit.ly/1OqqMKX)
The groups also ask for a transition period to
comply with any revised data transfer framework, especially for those small and
medium-sized businesses that relied entirely on Safe Harbour.
IMPENDING DEADLINE
European Union data protection authorities gave Brussels
and Washington until the end of January to forge a new pact and businesses the
same deadline to set up alternative legal channels to transfer personal data
across the Atlantic, such as binding corporate rules within multinationals or
model clauses.
While a political agreement may be possible in
that time, ironing out the legal details will take longer, according to a
person familiar with the talks.
However the business groups warn that all data
transfer mechanisms are in jeopardy as a result of the EU ruling, something
echoed by lawyers, and that could impact nearly all financial transactions
between the two largest economies in the world.
"We therefore urge your leadership to
ensure a durable legal framework for transatlantic data flows in the
future," the letter says.
EU privacy regulators are due to meet on Feb. 2
to decide if they should start taking enforcement action against companies if
they come to the conclusion that all transfer mechanisms fall foul of EU law
and there is no new framework in place.
Revelations two years ago of mass U.S.
surveillance programs where American authorities collected private information
directly from big tech firms like Apple (AAPL.O), Facebook (FB.O) and Google (GOOGL.O) riled Europe and set the stage for the
European Court of Justice ruling.
No comments:
Post a Comment