FPF Statement on White House Executive Order to Implement the European Union-U.S. Data Privacy Framework
October 7, 2022 — Statement from Future of Privacy Forum’s CEO Jules Polonetsky:
With this step, the U.S. puts in place practical surveillance limitations, oversight, and individual redress that are unmatched almost anywhere else in the world in the context of national security. Leading democracies are converging on surveillance standards with this progress. Constitutional limitations prevent a U.S. system that is identical to the European Union, but the Court of Justice of the EU has helped bring about U.S. reforms that will significantly protect privacy in the context of national security. Although there are important legal discussions to have about the exact nature of the judicial redress and the oversight mechanism, as well as the restrictions on bulk collection, this is a momentous achievement.
Particularly important is the reciprocity requirement for redress, which requires any country to implement safeguards for US citizens’ data to benefit from this system and will help advance global standards.
Read the White House Executive Order here and the White House Fact Sheet here.
FPF’s VP for Global Privacy, Dr. Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna, spoke about the EO at an IAPP LinkedIn Live on ‘The EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework & Next Steps for Data Transfers’ on Friday, October 7. Watch it here.
FPF Statement on the EU/US Transatlantic Data Agreement
March 25, 2022 — This morning the European Union and the United States came to a breakthrough agreement in principle, which allows Europeans’ personal data to flow to the United States.
Future of Privacy Forum’s CEO Jules Polonetsky said:
We are encouraged to see progress in the important effort to ensure that cross-border EU-U.S. research, communication, and commerce can continue without disruption. Both the European Commission and U.S. negotiators understand that any deal needs to meet the standard set by the European Court of Justice. Recent U.S. proposals have included significant oversight and extensive redress structures, beyond the Privacy Shield agreement that the European Court of Justice invalidated. We look forward to the details of the latest proposals, including those related to ensuring proportionality of government access to Europeans’ data. We appreciate that the Biden Administration has supported new models of redress and hope that Congress will build on these efforts as it addresses reforms of surveillance legislation in the near future.
We also encourage both the U.S. and EU to recognize the need to ensure surveillance oversight and trusted data flows among democratic allies globally and support the ongoing work of the OECD in this regard.
Read the White House Fact Sheet: the United States and European Commission Announce Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework here. You can also read VP of Global Privacy Dr. Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna’s analysis here.
