The continuing uncertainty about how data migration between the United States and the European Union can take place in accordance with the correct laws and regulations is a growing problem for many companies. This is stated by the American business newspaper Wall Street Journal in a recent article.
According to the business newspaper More and more companies are struggling with the question of how they can move their data between the US and the EU in the near future without too many problems, but in compliance with the various compliance rules. In particular, these, mainly American, companies wonder to what extent the stricter European regulations in the field of data privacy will limit their activities in the EU.
Stricter EU legislation
In the past year, the EU has introduced stricter regulations that prohibit certain companies from using American tech companies to store and process data. This should guarantee the privacy of the inhabitants of the 27 Member States. The Wall Street Journal finds that these regulations add an extra layer of confusion around data traffic between the US and the EU.
The heart of the matter is that neither the US nor the EU have yet negotiated a successor to the Privacy Shield agreement. Privacy Shield was a 2016 agreement on the protection of personal data of European Union citizens processed in the United States.
In mid-2020, this agreement was annulled by the Court of Justice of the EU, the highest European court. The rules agreed in Privacy Shield for data exchange and especially processing between the US and the EU would not comply with the GDPR regulations.
This was partly because American authorities could still request this data, despite the fact that European data was stored in the EU. According to the European Court of Justice, European privacy legislation remains the standard if data is used in any way in other countries.
Successor Privacy Shield is not forthcoming
Since then, the US and the EU have been negotiating a successor, but without result. Although it is known that such legal processes take a long time, the American business newspaper believes that this is now causing more and more problems for companies.
In addition, the Wall Street Journal indicates that in the absence of clear (privacy) legislation, successive European regulations mean that American tech companies are less and less able to provide their services in the EU. Over the past year, many agencies from EU countries have canceled their services at tech companies because it was determined that the transfer of data to these companies was not in line with EU laws and regulations.
The business newspaper therefore calls for more clarity about when the US and the EU will reach a new agreement. Otherwise, more, especially US companies, will still have problems with their activities in the EU.
