February 2, 2016 – After the expiration of the DPAs’ deadline of January 31, 2016, for the start of enforcement of the Schrems’ decision (see here), the EU Commission announces that it had a deal with the US Government for a new “Safe Harbor”. See more here
February 3, 2016 – Article 29 Working Party (WP29) welcomes the recent EU-U.S. announcement of the Privacy Shield, “look[ing] forward to receive the relevant documents”. The WP29 highlights the need for transnational transfers of personal data to undergo four guarantees. See more here
February 29, 2016 – The EU Commission releases the Privacy Shield legal documents, including a draft adequacy decision, Privacy Shield factsheet and the correspondence with its American counterparts. See more here
Also on February 29, 2016 – The WP29 releases a statement on the EU Commission’s presentation of EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, announcing that the WP29, divided in subgroups, “will analyze the safeguards provided for in the arrangement on both the commercial aspects and the limitations for national security, public interests and law enforcement purposes” and that in April an opinion will be issued. See more here
April 12-13, 2016: Plenary meeting of the WP29 – non-binding opinion will be approved. See more here
Mid-April 2016: WP29’s non-binding opinion will be released. See more here
Sometime between April and May 2016: the Member States in “comitology” (pursuant to Article 31 of Directive 95/46/EC) will issue a binding opinion on the EU Commission’s adequacy decision. See more here
June 2016: the EU Commission will adopt the adequacy decision and the Privacy Shield will be adopted.
And … in the meantime?
Waiting for the Privacy Shield’s approval, read this interesting blog of Cristina Vicarelli, Five Questions (and Answers) about the Privacy Shield .
Remember that data transfer to the U.S. under the Safe Harbor is definitely out of question (and DPAs are enforcing the Schrems decision – see an example here).
There are Safe Harbor’s alternatives: See here and here
For more information, Francesca Giannoni-Crystal