Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

A recent update on the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (the “CJEU’s”) website has revealed that Digital Rights Ireland, an Irish privacy advocacy group, has filed an action for annulment against the European Commission’s adequacy decision on the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield (the “Privacy Shield”).

Digital Rights Ireland has yet to comment on its action, but media sources quote a spokesperson for the European Commission acknowledging the case and stressing the European Commission’s conviction that the Privacy Shield meets all legal requirements. At present, no documents have been published in relation to the case; the only information currently available on the CJEU’s website is that the action was filed on September 16, 2016.

The Privacy Shield was adopted on July 12, 2016, as the successor to the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework that was invalidated by the CJEU in October 2015. The Privacy Shield is designed to protect the fundamental rights of individuals whose personal data is transferred to the U.S. and ensure legal certainty for businesses with respect to transatlantic transfers of personal data.