The future of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield data-sharing arrangement is shaky at best. On June 12, 2018, a resolution was passed by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs (LIBE) calling for the suspension of the Privacy Shield, unless the U.S. demonstrates full compliance with the requirements of the program by September 1, 2018. And today, following the recommendation of the LIBE, Parliament itself voted 303 to 223 (with 29 abstentions) in favor of suspension “unless the U.S. is fully compliant” by September 1st.
The European Parliament took this action in response to a number of recent data breaches affecting Privacy Shield Certified-U.S. companies, causing concern over the effectiveness of the regulatory oversight of the framework, as well as well as over the sufficiency of the Shield’s certification requirements which are designed to protect the personal data of EU residents. If suspended, certified U.S. companies will no longer be able to leverage the benefits afforded to them by the Privacy Shield, forcing them to find new compliance mechanisms by which to transfer data from the EU in order to satisfy the requirements of the GDPR.