Tag: Data Transfer

EDPB adopts new guidelines on certification as a tool for transfers

23. June 2022

On June 16, 2022, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) announced on its website that it had adopted guidelines on certification as a tool for transfers of personal data (publication is yet to take place following linguistic checks). Once published these guidelines will undergo public consultation until September 2022.

On a first note, these guidelines can be placed within the broader context of international data transfers, as envisioned by art. 46 (2) (f) GDPR. Further, the certification mechanism comes only into play when an adequacy decision is absent. As is probably well known, art. 46 (2) GDPR outlines several safeguards that may be resorted to in case personal data is being transferred to third countries.

One of these is the voluntary certification mechanism, as laid down by art. 42/43 GDPR, that allows accredited certification bodies or supervisory authorities to issue certifications, provided, of course, that controllers or processors have made binding and enforceable commitments. What the EU legislators hoped was to assist data subjects in quickly assessing “the level of data protection of relevant products and services” (Recital 100 GDPR) by way of certifications, seals, and marks.

In accordance with art. 42 (5) GDPR and guideline 1/2018 on certification, whereby the latter is to be complemented with the new guidelines, accredited certification bodies or supervisory authorities are competent to issue such certification. It is important to note that the previously mentioned accredited certification bodies could very well be private bodies which are subject to certain requirements and prior approval by the Board or supervisory authorities. The criteria on the basis of which certifications are issued are to be determined and approved by the Board or by the competent supervisory authorities (art. 42 (5) GDPR).

According to EDPB Deputy Chair Ventsislav Karadjov, these yet-to-be published guidelines are “ground-breaking” as he provides an outlook for the content of the guidelines. One of the most important aspects that will be touched upon are the accreditation requirements that certification bodies have to comply with as well as the certification criteria attesting that appropriate safeguards for transfers are in place. It remains to be seen whether these guidelines will indeed provide more guidance on those aspects.

Twitter fined $150m for handing users’ contact details to advertisers

30. May 2022

Twitter has been fined $150 million by U.S. authorities after the company collected users’ email addresses and phone numbers for security reasons and then used the data for targeted advertising. 

According to a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, the social media platform had told users that the information would be used to keep their accounts secure. “While Twitter represented to users that it collected their telephone numbers and email addresses to secure their accounts, Twitter failed to disclose that it also used user contact information to aid advertisers in reaching their preferred audiences,” said a court complaint filed by the DoJ. 

A stated in the court documents, the breaches occurred between May 2013 and September 2019, and the information was apparently used for purposes such as two-factor authentication. However, in addition to the above-mentioned purposes, Twitter used that data to allow advertisers to target specific groups of users by matching phone numbers and email addresses with advertisers’ own lists. 

In addition to financial compensation, the settlement requires Twitter to improve its compliance practices. According to the complaint, the false disclosures violated FTC law and a 2011 settlement with the agency. 

Twitter’s chief privacy officer, Damien Kieran, said in a statement that the company has “cooperated with the FTC at every step of the way.” 

“In reaching this settlement, we have paid a $150m penalty, and we have aligned with the agency on operational updates and program enhancements to ensure that people’s personal data remains secure, and their privacy protected,” he added. 

Twitter generates 90 percent of its $5 billion (£3.8 billion) in annual revenue from advertising.  

The complaint also alleges that Twitter falsely claimed to comply with EU and U.S. privacy laws, as well as Swiss and U.S. privacy laws, which prohibit companies from using data in ways that consumers have not approved of. 

The settlement with Twitter follows years of controversy over tech companies’ privacy practices. Revelations in 2018 that Facebook, the world’s largest social network, used phone numbers provided for two-factor authentication for advertising purposes enraged privacy advocates. Facebook, now Meta, also settled the matter with the FTC as part of a $5 billion settlement in 2019. 

 

European Commission and United States agree in principle on Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework

29. March 2022

On March 25th, 2022, the United States and the European Commission have committed to a new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework that aims at taking the place of the previous Privacy Shield framework.

The White House stated that the Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework “will foster trans-Atlantic data flows and address the concerns raised by the Court of Justice of the European Union when it struck down in 2020 the Commission’s adequacy decision underlying the EU-US Privacy Shield framework”.

According to the joint statement of the US and the European Commission, “under the Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework, the United States is to put in place new safeguards to ensure that signals surveillance activities are necessary and proportionate in the pursuit of defined national security objectives, establish a two-level independent redress mechanism with binding authority to direct remedial measures, and enhance rigorous and layered oversight of signals intelligence activities to ensure compliance with limitations on surveillance activities”.

This new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework has been a strenuous work in the making and reflects more than a year of detailed negotiations between the US and EU led by Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders.

It is hoped that this new framework will provide a durable basis for the data flows between the EU and the US, and underscores the shared commitment to privacy, data protection, the rule of law, and the collective security.

Like the Privacy Shield before, this new framework will represent a self-certification with the US Department of Commerce. Therefore, it will be crucial for data exporters in the EU to ensure that their data importers are certified under the new framework.

The establishment of a new “Data Protection Review Court” will be the responsible department in cases of the new two-tier redress system that will allow EU citizens to raise complaints in cases of access of their data by US intelligence authorities, aiming at investigating and resolving the complaints.

The US’ commitments will be concluded by an Executive Order, which will form the basis of the adequacy decision by the European Commission to put the new framework in place. While this represents a quicker solution to reach the goal, it also means that Executive Orders can be easily repealed by the next government of the US. Therefore, it remains to be seen if this new framework, so far only agreed upon in principle, will bring the much hoped closure on the topic of trans-Atlantic data flows that is intended to bring.

Google to launch Google Analytics 4 with aim to address EU Data Protection concerns

24. March 2022

On March 16, 2022, Google announced the launch of its new analytics solution, “Google Analytics 4”. Among other things, “Google Analytics 4” aims to address the most recent data protection developments regarding the use of analytical cookies and the transfers tied to such processing.

The announcement of this new launch comes following 101 complaints made by the non-governmental organization None of Your Business (NOYB) complaints with 30 EEA countries’ data protection authorities (DPA). Assessing the data transfer from the EU to the US after the Schrems II decision of the CJEU for the use of Google Analytics, the French and Austrian DPAs ruled that the transfer of EU personal data from the EU to the U.S. through the use of the Google Analytics cookies is unlawful under the GDPR.

In the press release, Google states that “Google Analytics 4 is designed with privacy at its core to provide a better experience for both our customers and their users. It helps businesses meet evolving needs and user expectations, with more comprehensive and granular controls for data collection and usage.”

However, the most important change that the launch of “Google Analytics 4” will have on the processing of personal data is that it will no longer store users’ IP addresses. This will limit the data processing and resulting transfers that Google Analytics was under scrutiny for in the EU, however it is unclear at this point if the EU DPAs will change their opinion on the use of Google Analytics with this new version.

According to the press release, the current Google Analytics will be suspended starting July 2023, and Google is recommending companies to move onto “Google Analytics 4” as soon as possible.

Apps are tracking personal data despite contrary information

15. February 2022

Tracking in apps enables the app providers to offer users personalized advertising. On the one hand, this causes higher financial revenues for app providers. On the other hand, it leads to approaches regarding data processing which are uncompliant with the GDPR.

For a year now data privacy labels are mandatory and designed to show personal data the app providers access (article in German) and provide to third parties. Although these labels on iPhones underline that data access does not take place, 80% of the analyzed applications that have these labels have access to data by tracking personal information. This is a conclusion of an analysis done by an IT specialist at the University of Oxford.

For example, the “RT News” app, which supposedly does not collect data, actually provides different sets of data to tracking services like Facebook, Google, ComScore and Taboola. However, data transfer activities have to be shown in the privacy labels of apps that may actually contain sensitive information of viewed content.

In particular, apps that access GPS location information are sold by data companies. This constitutes an abuse of data protection because personal data ishandled without being data protection law compliant and provided illegally to third parties.

In a published analysis in the Journal Internet Policy Review, tests of two million Android apps have shown that nearly 90 percent of Google’s Play Store apps share data with third parties directly after launching the app. However, Google indicates that these labels with false information about not tracking personal data come from the app provider. Google therefore evades responsibility for the implementation for these labels. Whereby, Apple asserts that controls of correctness are made.

Putting it into perspective, this issue raises the question whether these privacy labels make the use of apps safer in terms of data protection. One can argue that, if the app developers can simply give themselves these labels under Google, the Apple approach seems more legitimate. It remains to be seen if any actions will be taken in this regard.

CNIL judges use of Google Analytics illegal

14. February 2022

On 10th February 2022, the French Data Protection Authority Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) has pronounced the use of Google Analytics on European websites to not be in line with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and has ordered the website owner to comply with the requirements of the GDPR within a month’s time.

The CNIL judged this decision in regard to several complaints maybe by the NOYB association concerning the transfer to the USA of personal data collected during visits to websites using Google Analytics. All in all, NOYB filed 101 complaints against data controllers allegedly transferring personal data to the USA in all of the 27 EU Member States and the three further states of European Economic Area (EEA).

Only two weeks ago, the Austrian Data Protection Authority (ADPA) made a similar decision, stating that the use of Google Analytics was in violation of the GDPR.

Regarding the French decision, the CNIL concluded that transfers to the United States are currently not sufficiently regulated. In the absence of an adequacy decision concerning transfers to the USA, the transfer of data can only take place if appropriate guarantees are provided for this data flow. However, while Google has adopted additional measures to regulate data transfers in the context of the Google Analytics functionality, the CNIL deemed that those measures are not sufficient to exclude the accessibility of the personal data for US intelligence services. This would result in “a risk for French website users who use this service and whose data is exported”.

The CNIL stated therefore that “the data of Internet users is thus transferred to the United States in violation of Articles 44 et seq. of the GDPR. The CNIL therefore ordered the website manager to bring this processing into compliance with the GDPR, if necessary by ceasing to use the Google Analytics functionality (under the current conditions) or by using a tool that does not involve a transfer outside the EU. The website operator in question has one month to comply.”

The CNIL has also given advice regarding website audience measurement and analysis services. For these purposes, the CNIL recommended that these tools should only be used to produce anonymous statistical data. This would allow for an exemption as the aggregated data would not be considered “personal” data and therefore not fall under the scope of the GDPR and the requirements for consent, if the data controller ensures that there are no illegal transfers.

European Commission adopts South Korea Adequacy Decision

30. December 2021

On December 17th, 2021, the European Commission (Commission) announced in a statement it had adopted an adequacy decision for the transfer of personal data from the European Union (EU) to the Republic of Korea (South Korea) under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

An adequacy decision is one of the instruments available under the GDPR to transfer personal data from the EU to third countries that ensure a comparable level of protection for personal data as the EU. It is a Commission decision under which personal data can flow freely and securely from the EU to the third country in question without any further conditions or authorizations being required. In other words, the transfer of data to the third country in question can be handled in the same way as the transfer of data within the EU.

This adequacy decision allows for the free flow of personal data between the EU and South Korea without the need for any further authorization or transfer instrument, and it also applies to the transfer of personal data between public sector bodies. It complements the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and South Korea, which entered into force in July 2011. The trade agreement has led to a significant increase in bilateral trade in goods and services and, inevitably, in the exchange of personal data.

Unlike the adequacy decision regarding the United Kingdom, this adequacy decision is not time-limited.

The Commission’s statement reads:

The adequacy decision will complement the EU – Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement with respect to personal data flows. As such, it shows that, in the digital era, promoting high privacy and personal data protection standards and facilitating international trade can go hand in hand.

In South Korea, the processing of personal data is governed by the Personal Information Portection Act (PIPA), which provides similar principles, safeguards, individual rights and obligations as the ones under EU law.

An important step in the adequacy talks was the reform of PIPA, which took effect in August 2020 and strengthened the investigative and enforcement powers of the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), the independent data protection authority of South Korea. As part of the adequacy talks, both sides also agreed on several additional safeguards that will improve the protection of personal data processed in South Korea, such as transparency and onward transfers.

These safeguards provide stronger protections, for example, South Korean data importers will be required to inform Europeans about the processing of their data, and onward transfers to third countries must ensure that the data continue to enjoy the same level of protection. These regulations are binding and can be enforced by the PIPC and South Korean courts.

The Commission has also published a Q&A on the adequacy decision.

EDPB publishes draft Guidelines regarding data transfer clarifications

25. November 2021

On November 19th, 2021, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) published a new set of draft Guidelines 05/2021 on the interplay between the EU General Data Protection Regulation’s (GDPR) territorial scope, and the GDPR’s provisions on international data transfers.

The EDPB stated in their press release that “by clarifying the interplay between the territorial scope of the GDPR (Art. 3) and the provisions on international transfers in Chapter V, the Guidelines aim to assist controllers and processors in the EU in identifying whether a processing operation constitutes an international transfer, and to provide a common understanding of the concept of international transfers.”

The Guidelines set forth three cumulative criteria to consider in determining whether a processing activity qualifies as an international data transfer under the GDPR, namely:

  • the exporting controller or processor is subject to the GDPR for the given processing activity,
  • the exporting controller or processor transmits or makes available the personal data to the data importer (e.g., another controller, joint controller, or a processor and
  • the data importer is in a third country (or is an international organization), irrespective of whether the data importer or its processing activities are subject to the GDPR.

If all three requirements are met, the processing activity is to be considered an international data transfer under the GDPR, which results in the requirements of Chapter V of the GDPR to be applicable.

The Guidelines further clarify that the safeguards implemented to accommodate the international data transfer must be tailored to the specific transfer at issue. In an example, the EDPB indicates that the transfer of personal data to a controller in a third country that is subject to the GDPR will generally require fewer safeguards. In such a case, the transfer tool should focus on the elements and principles that are specific to the importing jurisdiction. This includes particularly conflicting national laws, government access requests in the receiving third country and the difficulty for data subjects to obtain redress against an entity in the receiving third country.

The EDPB offers its support in developing a transfer tool that would cover the above-mentioned situation.

The Guidelines are open for public consultation until January, 31st, 2022.

New EU SCC must be used as of now

29. September 2021

In June 2021, the European Commission published the long-awaited new Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) for the transfers of personal data to so-called third countries under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (please see our blog post). These new SCC modules replace the three 10-year-old SCC sets that were adopted under the EU Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and thus could not meet the requirements of the GDPR for data transfers to third countries, nor the significant Schrems II ruling of July 16th, 2020 (please see our blog post). The transfer of data to third countries has not only recently become problematic and a focus of supervisory authorities.

As of Monday, September 27th, 2021, these new SCC must be used for new contracts entered into after September 26th, 2021, and for new processing activities that begin after September 26th, if the contract or processing activity involves the transfer of personal data to so-called inadequate third countries. These are countries outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) not deemed to have an adequate level of data protection by an adequacy decision of the European Commission.

Contracts signed before September 27th, 2021, based on the old SCC will still be considered adequate until December 27th, 2022. For these contracts, the old SCCs already signed can be maintained in the meantime as long as the processing of personal data that is the subject of the contract in question does not change. The SCC used for these contracts must be updated to the new SCC, or other data transfer mechanisms in accordance with the GDPR, by December 27th, 2022. As of that date, all SCC used as safeguards for data transfers to inadequate third countries must be the new SCC.

EU Commission publishes Draft Adequacy Decision for South Korea

25. June 2021

On 16 June 2021, the European Commission published the draft adequacy decision for South Korea and transmitted it to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) for consultation. Thus, the Commission launched the formal procedure towards the adoption of the adequacy decision. In 2017, the Commission announced to prioritise discussions on possible adequacy decisions with important trading partners in East and South-East Asia, starting with Japan and South Korea. The adequacy decision for Japan was already adopted in 2019.

In the past, the Commission diligently reviewed South Korea’s law and practices with regards to data protection. In the course of ongoing negotiations with South Korea, the investigative and enforcement powers of the Korean data protection supervisory authority “PIPC” were strengthened, among other things. After the EDPB has given its opinion, the adequacy decision will need to be approved by a committee composed of representatives of the EU Member States.

The decision of an adequate level of protection pursuant to Art. 45 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by the Commission is one of the possibilities to transfer personal data from the EU to a third-country in a GDPR-compliant manner. The adequacy decision will serve as an important addition to the free trade agreement and a strengthening of cooperation between the EU and South Korea. Věra Jourová, the Commission’s Vice-President for Values and Transparency, expressed after launching the formal procedure:

“This agreement with the Republic of Korea will improve the protection of personal data for our citizens and support business in dynamic trade relations. It is also a sign of an increasing convergence of data protection legislation around the world. In the digitalised economy, free and safe data flows are not a luxury, but a necessity.”

Especially in light of the Schrems II decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the adequacy decision for South Korea will be an invaluable asset for European and South Korean companies conducting business with each other.

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