US: Is the Safe Harbor framework in trouble?

Europe’s top court will decide whether the much-discussed and sometimes controversial EU-US data sharing deal provides enough privacy protection for citizens tomorrow.

Less than two weeks after the opinion of the European Court of Justice’s Advocate General, Yves Bot, became public, the body will rule on the Max Schrems case, which hinges on the implementation of the so-called Safe Harbour agreement.

Given that the recently published opinion of Advocate Generale Bot in relation to this case raises a question mark over the future of the so-called “Safe Harbor” scheme, data protection practitioners, and the some 4,000 plus companies which reportedly use the Safe Harbor scheme, will be watching eagerly to see if the CJEU ruling follows AG Bot’s recommendations.

Bot called Safe Harbour ‘invalid’ in a case revolved around Schrems’ personal Facebook information passing through Europe, on to the company’s Irish offices and through to the US.

With Edward Snowden’s lengthy and damaging revelations about just how indiscriminate the surveillance of pretty much everybody can get in the US, Schrems had argued that Safe Harbour should be irrelevant.

Bot, it seems, agrees. However, his statement was just an opinion, with the ECJ’s official finding to be revealed tomorrow.

Full content: Business Insider

Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.