Proponents of the data protection shield have argued that while the agreement is being used by technology power plants, it also allows small U.S. companies to offer services in Europe. Already in 2015, Austrian activist Max Schrems won a victory in front of the ECJ. It stems from a complaint he filed with the Irish Data Protection Comptroller, in which he complained about the transfer of his data (and data from EU citizens in general) to the United States. On 6 October 2015, the case led the ECJ to invalidate the Safe Harbor Agreement, which regulated data transfers between the EU and the US. What followed were near-eventful negotiations that culminated in an agreement between the European Commission and the Obama administration on the data protection shield in May 2016. In a case against internet giant Facebook, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled that the Privacy Shield data transfer agreement does not adequately protect European data from US surveillance and security laws and is therefore not valid. The EU-US Data Protection Shield is an informal agreement between the US and the EU, which should govern transatlantic data exchange in accordance with an appropriate level of data protection. U.S. suppliers who have committed to using the data protection shield have also pledged to respect the restrictions and principles established in terms of data protection for EU citizens. The ECJ`s decision will also have implications for the ongoing negotiations between the EU and the UK on the post-Brexit agreement. The transitional period for Brexit expires on 31 December 2020.
It cannot be extended beyond that date. Uk surveillance is a painful point for many EU activists. Thanks to the judgment of the European Court of Justice, it is even less likely that the European Commission will grant the Uk “adequacy status” until 31 December, without a lengthy review procedure. From then on, the UK is likely to become a country with “inadequate data protection” for the EU. If the UK and US continue to use the data protection shield, the UK may even gain an advantage for international data transmission over the EU. The European Data Protection Society has filed a complaint against Amazon in a Munich court over the alleged use of the EU-US data protection shield agreement after being invalidated by the European Court of Justice`s ruling “Schrems II,” Politico reports. The Tribunal filed a complaint on behalf of a German citizen who also claimed that Amazon had failed to complete its data request under the EU`s General Data Protection Regulation. [3] Shortly after this decision, the European Commission and the United States