Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On November 3, 2015, John Murphy, Senior Vice President for International Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, testified about the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (“CJEU’s”) EU-U.S. Safe Harbor Decision at a joint hearing of the House Commerce and Communications and Technology Subcommittees.

Murphy’s testimony emphasized the economic relationship between the U.S. and the EU and stressed that this relationship “relies on the seamless flow of data across borders.” He stated that the CJEU’s decision invalidating the Safe Harbor agreement threatens the transatlantic flow of data. Murphy noted that the CJEU’s decision focused on “process concerns” within the Safe Harbor agreement, such as restrictions placed on EU Member States’ enforcement authority, and did not address “the actual substantive commercial data protection rules.”

Accordingly, Murphy thanked the House for passing the Judicial Redress Act, which is intended to address one of the process concerns identified by the CJEU, and encouraged Congress to work with a group of European Parliamentarians who are in Washington D.C. this week to resolve outstanding issues regarding Safe Harbor. He concluded by urging U.S. and EU officials to promptly implement a revised Safe Harbor framework to allow European and American companies to transfer data across the Atlantic.