On 13 December 2022, the European Commission initiated the process for adopting the adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
According to the press release, the adequacy decision draft addresses the Court of Justice of the European Union judgment in Schrems II case. It reflects the assessment of the European Commission of the US legal framework, that is now deemed to provide safeguards for the protection of the personal data that are comparable to those provided by the EU.
Among others, the US legal framework includes new rules based on which:
- US intelligence agencies access to the European data will be limited to what is necessary and proportionate to protect national security
- EU data subjects will have the possibility to address to an independent and impartial redress mechanism, which includes a newly created Data Protection Review Courts.
The European Commission submitted the adequacy decision draft to the European Data Protection Board and afterwards will seek approval from representatives of the EU Member States. The European Parliament has a right of scrutiny over the adequacy decision draft. The final adequacy decision will be adopted after completion of this procedure.
Based on the adequacy decision, US companies will be able to join the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework by committing to comply with a detailed set of privacy obligations.
