The European Commission and the United States have reached an agreement in principle on a new framework to foster international data flows.
Based on the new framework, data will be able to flow freely between the EU and participating US companies. In reaching the agreement, the US made commitments to implement reforms to strengthen the privacy and civil liberties protections applicable to US signals intelligence activities. Both sides will now continue to translate the arrangement into legal documents that will need to be adopted. The US commitments will take the form of an Executive Order that will form the basis of the European Commission's assessment in its future adequacy decision.
The Schrems II decision in July 2020 invalidated the former EU/US Privacy Shield, which permitted transfers between companies in the EU and companies in the US who were signed up to the Privacy Shield. Since then, there have been significant issues for companies wanting to transfer personal data to the US, and as a result they have had to find an alternative mechanism to ensure the transfer is lawful.
