U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order to implement a European Union-U.S. data transfer framework announced in March that adopts new U.S. privacy safeguards for information collection.
The deal aims to end the limbo thousands of companies have found themselves in after Europe’s top court threw out two previous pacts over concerns about US oversight.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters that the executive order “is the culmination of our joint efforts to restore confidence and stability in transatlantic data flows” and “will ensure the privacy of personal data of the EU”.
The framework responds to concerns from the Court of Justice of the European Union which struck down the earlier EU-US Privacy Shield Framework as a valid data transfer mechanism under EU law.
The White House said “transatlantic data flows are critical to enabling the $7.1 trillion (nearly Rs. 5,86,18,300 crore) EU-US economic relationship” and that the framework will “restore an important legal basis for transatlantic data flows”.
The White House said Biden’s order bolsters current “privacy and civil liberties safeguards” for American intelligence gathering and creates an independent and binding tiered redress mechanism for people who believe their personal data is wrong. were illegally collected by US intelligence agencies.
EU officials said it would take around six months for it to complete a complex approval process, noting that the previous system only had recourse to a mediator within the US administration. , which the EU court rejected.
Biden’s order adopts new safeguards on U.S. intelligence-gathering activities, requiring they do only what is necessary and proportionate, and creates a two-step redress system — first to a police dog. custody of the intelligence agency, then to a tribunal with independent judges, whose decisions would bind the intelligence agencies.
Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in March that the tentative deal offered stronger legal protections and addressed concerns from the EU tribunal.
Raimondo will transmit on Friday a series of letters to the EU from US agencies “describing the operation and application of the EU-US data privacy framework” which “will form the basis of the European Commission’s assessment in a new suitability decision,” she said.
Under the order, the Civil Liberties Protection Officer (CLPO) of the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence will investigate complaints and make determinations.
The US Department of Justice is setting up a Data Protection Review Tribunal to independently review CLPO decisions. Judges with experience in data privacy and national security will be appointed from outside the US government.
European privacy activists have threatened to challenge the framework if they believe it does not sufficiently protect privacy.
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