US Affirms Full Compliance with Privacy Shield Obligations

The US Ambassador to the European Union told journalists today that the United States is meeting its obligations under the Privacy Shield and has declared an ombudsman to monitor complaints, according to reports. The report follows several months of media discussions about unhappiness with the Privacy Shield framework coming out of Europe and concern that the EU might declare the US non-compliant in the annual review this fall.

The second annual joint review of the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework is currently scheduled for October 18-19th in Brussels. The European Commission will review the framework for whether it provides an adequate level of data protection for EU citizens. If it does, then the agreement will continue in force for another year.

The EU Parliament previously called for the suspension of the Privacy Shield if the United States was not in full compliance by September 1st. However, the European Parliament does not have the authority to suspend the Privacy Shield itself.

The United States has declared Manisha Singh the Privacy Shield Ombudsperson under the framework. She is also the Acting Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment for the United States. The position is dedicated to facilitating the processing of requests of EU individuals concerning certain data transmitted from the European Union to the United States.

European concerns include the lack of perceived action by the United States to enforce the framework, including against Facebook which has signed on to the Privacy Shield. However, the Federal Trade Commission has recently brought enforcement actions against several businesses for falsely claiming participation in the Privacy Shield framework and/or failing to honor their Privacy Shield commitments. In the press release that accompanied the announcement, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection said, “We have now brought enforcement actions against eight companies related to the Privacy Shield, and we will continue to aggressively enforce the Privacy Shield and other cross-border privacy frameworks.”

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On Privacy Shield:

EC Report for Second Annual Privacy Shield Review Finds Adequate Protection of Privacy
EU and US Meet for Second Annual Privacy Shield Review
European Parliament Calls for Suspension of Privacy Shield in September
EU considering deadline for Privacy Shield compliance by United States