EU to revise data protection rules

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) – The European Union might revise its data protection law after a top court invalidated a widely used EU-US data transfer agreement, EU commissioner for justice announced on Thursday.

The European Court of Justice ruled on Thursday against the validity of the agreement, known as the Privacy Shield.

The mechanism has been used since 2016 to protect European citizens’ personal data when transferred by companies to the US for commercial use.

The decision of the European Court of Justice is a follow-up to a case in which an Austrian data privacy activist, Max Schrems, challenged Facebook for submitting European data to American surveillance regime.

While the ruling struck down the Privacy Shield, it upheld the legality of another data transfer mechanism called "standard contractual clauses".

The European Commission needs now to evaluate the decision and eventually adapt the data protection legislation, Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders explained.

He reassured that the European Commission would do everything to protect European citizens’ rights for data protection.

“The concept of rule of law applies to European institutions as well,” Reynders added.