European Parliament resolution on the Privacy Shield: Syntec Numérique regrets an ill-timed initiative
At today’s plenary session, MEPs adopted a resolution by the Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) on the Privacy Shield. This resolution by Claude Moraes (S&D) had been voted down by the conservative parties (EPP and ECR), who had gone so far as to table a rival motion yesterday, giving clear support to the Privacy Shield.
Adopted in 2016, following the opinion of the G29, the European Data Protection Supervisor and the European Parliament, the Privacy Shield is an essential tool for data transfers between Europe and the United States. Nearly 2,000 companies have registered to be able to carry out data transfers in compliance with the conditions that have been defined.
In their resolution of May 26, 2016, adopted before the Privacy Shield was put in place, MEPs had “welcomed the efforts made by the Commission and the US administration to make substantial improvements to the data protection shield” and had “stressed the importance of transatlantic relations, which are vital for both partners”.
The adoption of this new resolution therefore sends out a contradictory signal, at a time when the Privacy Shield includes additional guarantees in terms of access to data by the authorities, tougher controls and sanctions, and reinforced redress mechanisms for citizens with an ombudsman responsible for examining complaints.
It should also be remembered that the Privacy Shield provides for a joint annual review mechanism, the 1st edition of which will take place next September – one year after its entry into force. This procedure will involve all stakeholders, and will culminate in the drafting of a public report to be sent to the European Parliament and the Council.
“It is within the framework of this annual review that these exchanges on the Privacy Shield can take place, which the MEPs wanted to initiate prematurely with this resolution,” says Godefroy de Bentzmann, President of Syntec Numérique, who continues: “The French and European digital ecosystem needs stability and legal certainty, and such initiatives send out the wrong signals.
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MEPs from the EPP and ECR groups tabled their own, more balanced motion, which welcomed the advances made by the Privacy Shield, but deplored “the early scheduling of this debate” and felt that “the presentation of the first joint annual review would be a more appropriate time to draw initial conclusions on how the mechanism is working”.