On October 18, 2017, the European Commission (EU Commission) published its report on the first annual review of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework (Privacy Shield). The EU Commission confirms that the Privacy Shield ensures an adequate level of protection for EU personal data that is transferred to the U.S., but calls on the U.S. government to implement a number of recommendations.
Certified companies can continue to rely on the Privacy Shield to receive EU personal data in compliance with EU data protection law. This is an important validation of a key mechanism used by EU and U.S. companies transferring data to the U.S., particularly in light of the current uncertainty around data transfers arising from court challenges to the Standard Contractual Clauses and the Privacy Shield.
For more information, please see our complete WSGR Alert on the new report.