TACD Cal s on EU to Reject “Privacy
Shield” Proposal
April 7, 2016
New s, Uncategorized
Scheme Fails to Protect Consumers’ Fundamental Rights to Privacy and Data Protection
Fol ow ing the 29 February 2016 release of t
he text of the “Privacy Shield” by the European Commission and the
U.S. Department of Commerce, w e have adopted a
new policy resolution on the proposed transatlantic data
transfer agreement, meant to replace the invalidated Safe Harbour.
We believe that the framew ork
does not provide significantly stronger protections than Safe Harbour and
w e therefore
urge the European Com m ission not to adopt the Privacy Shield . Like its predecessor
arrangement, it continues to be a self -declared, self -regulatory system, w hich w il be adhered to by a limited
number of companies. Furthermore, in the continuous absence of a robust U.S. privacy framew ork that meets the
EU standards, the Privacy Shield fails to guarantee the essential y equivalent level of protection required under
EU law . It also fails to bring any improvement to the privacy protection of U.S. consumers.
In our resolution, w e make a set of recommendations to the EU and U.S. authorities for a framew ork that
guarantees the adequate protection of EU and U.S. consumers alike.
We urge the EU Authorities to:
- Hold off adopting the proposed Privacy Shield decision until the U.S. can guarantee an essential y equivalent
level of data protection to the one existing in the EU.
- Publish a detailed legal review of the Privacy Shield
vis a vis the ECJ Safe Harbour ruling, the 1995 Data
Protection Directive, the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the EU Charter of
Fundamental Rights.
- Effectively enforce the EU data protection rules to stop unlaw ful data transf ers to the U.S.
- Formal y adopt the agreed EU General Data Protection Regulation w ithout delay and proceed w ith the review of
the e-Privacy Directive.
- Hold off on signing the EU-U.S. Umbrel a Agreement.
- Prompt those Member States engaging in mass surv eil ance of individuals to put an end to such practices.
We urge the U.S. Authorities to:
- Enact a comprehensive legal framew ork for data protection and privacy.
- Become a ful party to the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals w ith regard to
Automatic Processing of Personal Data (CETS No. 108) and its Additional Protocol regarding supervisory
authorities and trans-border data flow s (CETS No. 181)
- Provide rulemaking authority to the Federal Trade Commission and ensure that the Federal Communications
Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau act on their respective jurisdictions and exercise the
ful extent of their rulemaking authority to protect consumer privacy in the electronic communications and financial
services areas.
- Establish an independent agency for the protection of privacy to ensure independent enforcement of the Privacy
Act. The new independent agency should also have the appropriate enforcement and regulatory pow ers.
- Update the Privacy Act of 1974 to provide meaningful judicial redress to any person w hose data is stored by a
U.S. federal agency.
- Support strong encryption and reject any law or policy that w ould undermine the security of consumers and
internet users.
- End mass surveil ance of U.S. and non-U.S. persons and enact a surveil ance reform and legislative changes
w ithin a reasonable time.
Please click
here to read the ful TACD resolution on the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield.
Link:
http://tacd.org/tacd-calls-on-eu-to-reject-privacy-shield-proposal/