Tag: Standard Contractual Clauses

DPC sends draft decision on Meta’s EU-US data transfers to other European DPAs

14. July 2022

On July 7, 2022, it became known that the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) had forwarded a draft decision concerning Meta’s EU-US data transfers to other European DPAs for consultation. Having to respect a four-week-period, European DPAs may comment on this draft or formulate objections to it. In such an event, the DPC would be given an additional month to respond to the objections raised (article 60 GDPR).

According to information available to politico, the DPC is intending to halt Meta’s EU-US transfer. The DPC is said to have concluded in its out of “own volition” draft decision that Meta can no longer rely on the SCCs when it transfers their user’s personal data to US based servers. In other words, even though Meta has implemented the EU’s SSCs, it cannot be ruled out that US intelligence services may gain access to personal data of data subjects using facebook, instagram and other meta products.

Following the striking down of both, the Safe Harbour Agreement in 2015 and the EU-US Privacy Shield in 2020 by the Court of Justice of the European Union, this draft decision seems to question the legality and compatibility of EU-US data transfers with the GDPR for a third time.

In this context it is worthy to consider a statement Meta made in its annual report to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC):

“If a new transatlantic data transfer framework is not adopted and we are unable to continue to rely on SCCs or rely upon other alternative means of data transfers from Europe to the United States, we will likely be unable to offer a number of our most significant products and services, including Facebook and Instagram, in Europe, which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.”

Despite the possibility of a halt of Meta’s EU-US data transfers, there is reason to believe that this DPC initiated procedure will be continued in the future and that it will go beyond the previously mentioned four-weeks timeline. “We expect other DPAs to issue objections, as some major issues are not dealt with in the DPC’s draft. This will lead to another draft and then a vote”, says NOYB’s Max Schrems who filed the original complaint to the DPC. Hence, it seems rather unlikely that an instant stop of an EU-US transfer will occur. Instead, we could rather expect article 65 GDPR to be triggered meaning that the EDPB would be required to issue a final decision, including a vote, on the matter.

With no concrete EU-US transfer agreement in sight and the ongoing uncertainty on whether the DPC will eventually succeed with its draft decision, this matter continues to be of big interest.

UK’s new data protection clauses now in force

31. March 2022

After the British government announced reforms to UK’s data protection system last year, the Secretary of State submitted on February 2nd, 2022, a framework to the Parliament to regulate international data transfers and replace the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC). As no objections were raised and the Parliament approved the documents, they entered into force on March 21st, 2022.

The set of rules consists of the International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA), the International Data Transfer Addendum to the European Commission’s SCC for international data transfers (Addendum) and a Transitional Provisions document. The transfer rules are issued under Section 119A of the Data Protection Act 2018 and take into account the binding judgement of the European Court of Justice in the case commonly referred to as “Schrems II”.

The documents serve as a new tool for compliance with Art. 46 UK GDPR for data transfers to third countries and broadly mirror the rules of the EU GDPR. The UK government also retained the ability to issue its own adequacy decisions regarding data transfers to other third countries and international organizations.

The transfer rules are of immediate benefit to organizations transferring personal data outside the UK. In addition, the transitional provisions allow organizations to rely on the EU SCC until March 21st, 2024, for contracts entered into up to and including September 21st, 2022. However, this is subject to the condition that the data processing activities remain unchanged and that the clauses ensure adequate safeguards.

European Commission issues draft on Standard Contractual Clauses

18. November 2020

A day after the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) issued its recommendations on supplementary measures, on November 12th the European Commission issued a draft on implementing new Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) for data transfers to non-EU countries (third countries). The draft is open for feedback until December 10th, 2020, and includes a 12-month transition period during which companies are to implement the new SCCs. These SCCs are supposed to assist controllers and processors in transferring personal data from an EU-country to a third-country, implementing measures that guarantee GDPR-standards and regarding the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) “Schrems II” ruling.

The Annex includes modular clauses suitable for four different scenarios of data transfer. These scenarios are: (1) Controller-to-controller-transfer; (2) Controller-to-processor-transfer; (3) Processor-processor-transfer; (4) Processor-to-controller-transfer. Newly implemented in these SCCs are the latter two scenarios. Since the clauses in the Annex are modular, they can be mixed and matched into a contract fitting the situation at hand. Furthermore, more than two parties can adhere to the SCC and the modular approach even allows for additional parties to accede later on.

The potential of government access to personal data is distinctly addressed, since this was a main issue following the “Schrems II” ruling. Potential concerns are met by implementing clauses that address how the data importer must react when laws of the third country impinge on his ability to comply with the contract, especially the SCCs, and how he must react in case of government interference.  Said measures include notifying the data exporter and the data subject of any government interference, such as legally binding requests of access to personal data, and, if possible, sharing further information on these requests on a regular basis, documenting them and challenging them legally. Termination clauses have been added, in case the data importer cannot comply further, e.g. because of changes in the third country’s law.

Further clauses regard matters such as data security, transparency, accuracy and onwards transfer of personal data, which represent issues that have all been tackled in the older SCCs, but are to be updated now.

Advocate General releases opinion on the validity of SCCs in case of Third Country Transfers

19. December 2019

Today, Thursday 19 of December, the European Court of Justice’s (CJEU) Advocate General Henrik Saugmandsgaard Øe released his opinion on the validity of Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) in cases of personal data transfers to processors situated in third countries.

The background of the case, on which the opinion builds on, originates in the proceedings initiated by Mr. Maximillian Schrems, where he stepped up against Facebook’s business practice of transferring the personal data of its European subscribers to servers located in the United States. The case (Schrems I) led the CJEU on October 6, 2015, to invalidate the Safe Harbor arrangement, which up to that point governed data transfers between the EU and the U.S.A.

Following the ruling, Mr. Schrems decided to challenge the transfers performed on the basis of the EU SCCs, the alternative mechanism Facebook has chosen to rely on to legitimize its EU-U.S. data flows, on the basis of similar arguments to those raised in the Schrems I case. The Irish DPA brought proceedings before the Irish High Court, which referred 11 questions to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling, the Schrems II case.

In the newly published opinion, the Advocate General validates the established SCCs in case of a commercial transfer, despite the possibility of public authorities in the third country processing the personal data for national security reasons. Furthermore, the Advocate General states that the continuity of the high level of protection is not only guaranteed by the adequacy decision of the court, but just as well by the contractual safeguards which the exporter has in place that need to match that level of protection. Therefore, the SCCs represent a general mechanism applicable to transfers, no matter the third country and its adequacy of protection. In addition, and in light of the Charter, there is an obligation for the controller as well as the supervisory authority to suspend any third country transfer if, because of a conflict between the SCCs and the laws in the third country, the SCCs cannot be complied with.

In the end, the Advocate General also clarified that the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield decision of 12 July 2016 is not part of the current proceedings, since those only cover the SCCs under Decision 2010/87, taking the questions of the validity of the Privacy Shield off the table.

While the Advocate General’s opinion is not binding, it represents the suggestion of a legal solution for cases for which the CJEU is responsible. However, the CJEU’s decision on the matter is not expected until early 2020, setting the curiosity on the outcome of the case high.

Irish High Court refers Facebook case to the CJEU

6. October 2017

On October 3rd 2017, the Irish High Court publicised it will refer the Facebook case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The lawsuit is based on a complaint to the Irish Data Protection Commissioner filed by Max Schrems, an Austrian lawyer and privacy activist. Schrems was also involved in the case against Facebook resulting in the CJEU’s landmark decision declaring the Commission’s US Safe Harbour Decision invalid.

In his new complaint, Schrems is challenging the data transfers of Faceook to the US on the basis of the “Model Contracts for the transfer of personal data to third countries”, also known as standard contractual clauses (SCCs). Schrems himself said, “In simple terms, US law requires Facebook to help the NSA with mass surveillance and EU law prohibits just that.”

In contrast to Schrems, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner challenged the validity of the SCCs in general and not only in matters of Facebook. Due to the importance of the case, the Irish High Court referred it to the CJEU. The CJEU will now have to decide whether data transfers to the US are valid on the basis of the Commission’s Model Contracts. It remains to be seen what the CJEU will decide and if its decision will have an impact on the Privacy Shield framework.

Mass Audit in Germany concerning 500 firms’ cloud transfers

8. November 2016

As the IAPP just published online, 10 of the 16 German Data Protection Authorities, have begun to assess firms’ transfer of personal data to cloud services based outside of the EU.

According to a joint statement of the respective Data Protection Authorities this is due to the fact that cross-border personal data transfers are growing massively, because of globalization and the rise of software-as-a-service.

Therefore, a mass audit is conducted, which takes about 500 randomly selected companies of various sizes into account. This audit is based on questionnaires asking about their transfers of employee and customer personal data to third countries, in particular to the U.S. while using services such as:

  • office apps,
  • cloud storage,
  • email and other communications platforms,
  • customer service ticketing,
  • support systems and
  • risk management and compliance systems.

In case a company transfers personal data to third countries, it has to show the legal grounds they are using, for example Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield.

Trust in current mechanisms to carry out international data transfer decreases

1. September 2016

According to a survey conducted recently by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), trust in current legal mechanisms to carry out data transfers to third countries, such as Standard Contractual Clauses and the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, has decreased.

The results of this survey reveal that 80 percent of companies relies on the Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the EU Commission to carry out international data transfers, especially to the U.S.A. However, there is currently uncertainty regarding the validity of the Standard Contractual Clauses, which may be also invalidated by the ECJ, as already occurred with the former Safe Harbor framework.

Regarding the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, which is operative since 1st August, the survey reveals that only 42 percent of U.S. companies plan to self-certify through this new framework, compared to the 73 percent that conducted self-certification with the Safe Harbor framework. The main reason for this may be related to the uncertainty regarding its validity. The Article 29 WP stated recently that the first annual review of the Privacy Shield will be decisive.

Finally, Binding Corporate Rules (BCR) are also used by companies to carry out intra-group data transfers. However, there are several reasons why not many companies implement them. One of these reasons relates to the high costs involved with the implementation. Moreover, the implementation process can last over one year. Also, BCR can be only used for international data transfers within the group, so that other mechanisms shall be used if data transfers outside the group take place.