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Reality and Illusion in EU Data Transfer Regulation Post Schrems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Abstract

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The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner, in which the Court invalidated the EU-US Safe Harbour arrangement, is a landmark in EU data protection law. The judgment affirms the fundamental right to data protection in the context of international data transfers, defines an adequate level of data protection, and illustrates how data protection rights under EU law can apply to data processing in third countries. It also raises questions about the status of other legal bases for international data transfers under EU law, and shows that many legal disputes concerning data transfers are essentially political arguments in disguise. The Schrems judgment illustrates the tendency of EU data protection law to focus on legalistic mechanisms to protect data transfers rather than on protection in practice. The EU and the US have since agreed on a replacement for the Safe Harbour (the EU-US Privacy Shield), the validity of which will likely be tested in the Court of Justice. Regulation of data transfers needs to go beyond formalistic measures and legal fictions, in order to move from illusion to reality.

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Developments
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by German Law Journal, Inc. 

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134 For the current status of Commission decisions concerning equivalence of foreign frameworks in the area of banking and finance, see http://ec.europa.eu/finance/general-policy/global/equivalence/index_en.htm. See Tzung-bor Wei, The Equivalence Approach to Securities Regulation, 27 Nw. J. Int'l L. & Bus. 255 (2006) (regarding the concept of “equivalence” in securities regulation).Google Scholar

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136 See, e.g., Rotaru v. Romania 2000 Eur. Ct. H.R. 191, para. 67.Google Scholar

137 See Art. 29 Working Party, Working Document: Transfers of Personal Data to Third Countries: Applying Articles 25 and 26 of the EU Data Protection Directive WP 12 (July 24, 1998), at 5 (stating that “data protection rules only contribute to the protection of individuals if they are followed in practice”).Google Scholar

138 See Directorate-General for Communication, Special Eurobarometer 431: Data Protection, 25 (June 2015), http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_431_sum_en.pdf.Google Scholar

139 See Schrems, supra note 4, at para. 84–86.Google Scholar

140 Id. at para. 88.Google Scholar

141 Id. at para. 89.Google Scholar

142 See Self-Certification, Export.gov, Privacy Shield Program (July 6, 2016) https://www.export.gov/article?id=6-Self-Certification.Google Scholar

143 See How to Join Privacy Shield (Part 1), Export.gov, Privacy Shield Program (Apr. 13, 2017), https://www.export.gov/article?id=How-to-Join-Privacy-Shield-part-1.Google Scholar

144 See How to Join Privacy Shield (Part 2), Export.gov, Privacy Shield Program (Apr. 13, 2017) https://www.export.gov/article?id=How-to-Join-Privacy-Shield-part-2.Google Scholar

145 See Commission Implementing Decision 2016/1250 of 12 July 2016, supra note 13, Recitals 147–48.Google Scholar

146 Id. Recital 65.Google Scholar

147 See Agreement on the Protection of Personal information, supra note 15.Google Scholar

148 See Judicial Redress Act of 2015, supra note 17.Google Scholar

149 See Anupam Chander & Uyê P. Lê, Data Nationalism, 64 Emory L. J. 677 (2015) (regarding data localization); Christopher Kuner, Data Nationalism and its Discontents, 64 Emory L.J. Online 2089 (2015), http://law.emory.edu/elj/_documents/volumes/64/online/kuner.pdf.Google Scholar

150 See Atos CEO Calls for ‘Schengen for Data,‘ Thierry Breton's Blog, http://www.thierry-breton.com/lire-lactualite-media-41/items/atos-ceo-calls-for-schengen-for-data.html; Ein Internet nur für Deutschland, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, (Nov. 10, 2013), http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/netzwirtschaft/plaene-der-telekom-ein-internet-nur-fuer-deutschland-12657090.html.Google Scholar

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154 See Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217 (III) A, U.N. Doc. A/RES/217(III), Dec. 10, 1948, art. 19; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Dec. 16, 1966, S. Exec. Rep. 102–23, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, Article 19(2); European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Sept. 3, 1953, E.T.S. 5, 213 U.N.T.S. 221, Article 10(1).Google Scholar

155 In each of the three human rights conventions referred to above in note 154, the phrase “regardless of frontiers” is mentioned in the article dealing with freedom of opinion and of expression (for example, in the articles cited therein).Google Scholar

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162 See, e.g., Baker, Stewart, Time to Get Serious About Europe's Sabotage of US Terror Intelligence Programs, Wash. Post (Jan. 5, 2016), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/01/05/time-to-get-serious-about-europes-sabotage-of-us-terror-intelligence-programs/.Google Scholar

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