Key EU Advisory Body Declines to Support Privacy Shield (Update)
UPDATE: The Article 29 Working Party has released surprisingly brief comments on Privacy Shield, available here. Consistent with the press briefing held earlier today (see below), WP29 has concluded that Privacy Shield falls short without providing specific guidance as to what, exactly, an acceptable version of Privacy Shield would look like.
Earlier today, the Article 29 Working Party (“WP29”) held a press conference to give a preview of its assessment of the proposed EU-US Privacy Shield arrangements that were slated to replace the struck-down Safe Harbor program and bring much-needed certainty to companies that transfer personal data from the EU to the US.
While full comments will be available later today, we know now that WP29 has declined to give Privacy Shield its support. It appears that WP29 has serious concerns about the limitations of US national security agencies to conduct mass surveillance. WP29 is also skeptical about the rights of redress for EU residents and would prefer that EU residents be able to bring complaints immediately via their local EU data protection authorities. We will cover the WP29 assessment more fully during our webinar on Thursday, April 14. Register here. In the meantime, for those who would like to listen to the press briefing, an audio recording is available here: https://scic.ec.europa.eu/streaming/article-29-working-party