Privacy Shield to be adopted next week



Speaking at Privacy Laws & Business 29th Annual International Conference in Cambridge, Bruno Gencarelli, Head of EU Data Protection Unit said that the Article 31 Committee will be voting on the Privacy Shield pact this week, and following a positive vote, Commission would subsequently be able to adopt an adequacy decision for EU-US data transfers next week.

Gencarelli said that changes made to Privacy Shield include stronger rules on data retention, onward transfers and safeguards on access to data by public authorities. The position of the US Ombudsman has also been renegotiated so that the body will be fully independent from intelligence agencies.

"We are moving from self-certification to a much more controlled framework," Gencarelli said.

He confirmed that companies that were certified to the Safe Harbor cannot just move over to the new programme but would need to sign up to the Shield and adapt their programmes. The EU is cooperating with the US Department of Commerce and there will be a transitional period.

The PL&B conference continues tomorrow. See #PLB2016AC