(Bloomberg) — Europe’s privacy chiefs said it’s too soon to declare victory after U.S. President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reached the outlines of a deal to keep data flowing across the Atlantic.
The two sides broke the deadlock last month on a new pact, potentially avoiding a doomsday scenario for tech giants such as Meta Platforms Inc. and thousands of other firms that rely on free flows of information.
But a panel of EU regulators said Thursday the deal can only survive if it ends in concrete measures following “unprecedented” measures the U.S. committed to take to protect EU citizens’ data.
The EU’s top court in a 2020 ruling toppled the previous pact over concerns that EU user data wasn’t safe from the prying eyes of U.S. spies once it’s been shipped across the Atlantic. The ruling meant thousands of businesses that ship commercial data to the U.S. had to figure out alternative ways to keep their data flowing and EU-U.S. negotiators were forced back to the drawing table.
The European Data Protection Board said Thursday it will “analyze whether the collection of personal data for national security purposes is limited to what is strictly necessary and proportionate” and “how the announced independent redress mechanism” will respect European citizens’ right to a fair trial.
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The guarded welcome by regulators comes after Didier Reynders, the EU’s justice commissioner, said late last month he was confident the new accord would be a “robust solution” compared to its predecessor.
He said the U.S. will present a number of texts, including an executive order by President Biden, with final adoption “maybe by the end of the year.”
The political agreement and the “significant improvements” touted by the commission already got the initial backing of EU member states at a meeting earlier this month, according to officials.
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