ITIF Disappointed Article 29 Working Party Has Not Affirmed Adequacy of Privacy Shield

WASHINGTON—In response to the opinion issued today by the Chair of the Article 29 Working Party, an advisory body comprised of all of the EU data protection regulators, on the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a technology policy think tank, released the following statement from ITIF Vice President Daniel Castro:

We are disappointed that the Article 29 Working Party has not affirmed the adequacy of the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework negotiated between the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce. The new agreement offers a host of new protections, obligations, and opportunities for redress that affirm the commitment of the U.S. government to safeguard European data and respect the rights of European citizens. Moreover, the agreement has achieved widespread support on both sides of the Atlantic from many policymakers, businesses, and advocacy groups for offering an opportunity to move forward after the European Court of Justice invalidated the Safe Harbor agreement in the Schrems decision.

While members of the Article 29 Working Party should continue to offer suggestions on how to strengthen this agreement—and there are opportunities for improvement—the opportunity for improvement should not preclude official approval of the agreement. A prolonged climate of regulatory uncertainty places unnecessary strain on the digital economy, hurting businesses, workers, and consumers. Moreover, there will be many opportunities to build on the initial the Privacy Shield Framework, as all parties involved have already agreed to meet at least annually to how to further improve the functioning, implementation, supervision, and enforcement of the framework. But given the crucial importance of transatlantic data flows to the global digital economy, the national data protection authorities should not try to hold the digital economy hostage to extract further tweaks to the agreement.

We urge the European Commission to affirm the adequacy of the Privacy Shield Framework.