In a non-binding opinion issued on September 23, 2015, an Advocate General for the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) recommended that the ECJ suspend the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor program (“Safe Harbor”) and reexamine whether the Safe Harbor provides adequate protection for personal data of EU citizens. In light of its non-binding nature, the opinion did … Continue Reading
In what may prove to be a major step forward in US-EU privacy relations, the House Judicial Committee approved H.R. 1428, the Judicial Redress Act of 2015, on September 16. If enacted, the bill would allow citizens of “covered countries” to bring civil actions in the US under the Privacy Act of 1974. In effect, … Continue Reading
In an expected but controversial move, Google has rejected a demand by the French Data Privacy authority CNIL to apply the European “Right to be Forgotten” worldwide. We have covered the E.U.’s Right to be Forgotten before, but here is a quick recap: under the E.U. rule, individuals have the right to require organizations that … Continue Reading
When are U.S. social media companies subject to European data privacy laws? As we reported in 2013, the answer is often contingent on geographic location – where the relevant data is processed. In 2013, for example, a German court ruled that Facebook was not subject to German data protection laws because the relevant data was … Continue Reading
A brief rundown of developments in recent weeks in the area of EU data protection law: EU Data Protection Regulation On Monday, June 15, the EU Council (comprised, for purposes of data protection reform, of the justice ministers from each of the EU member states) reached an agreement on a draft data protection regulation, marking … Continue Reading
The US-EU Safe Harbor has been back in the news recently as Germany’s data protection commissioners met at the end of January and expressed impatience at the delay in implementing what many view as necessary reforms to the program. The European Court of Justice also recently heard a challenge to Facebook’s reliance on the Safe … Continue Reading
On February 3, 2015, European data protection regulators released the Cookie Sweep Combined Analysis Report analyzing how websites use cookies to collect data from European citizens and highlighting noncompliance with Article 5(3) of the EU’s ePrivacy Directive. Among other requirements, this directive mandates that website operators obtain users’ consent for the use of cookies or … Continue Reading
The European Court of Justice, in a decision rendered on May 13, 2014, held that search engines are considered data controllers under the Directive of October 24, 1995 on data protection, and as such they must provide data subjects with a “right to be forgotten.”… Continue Reading
Over the past decade, the EU has made significant technological and legal strides toward the widespread adoption of electronic identification cards. An electronic ID card, or e-ID, serves as a form of secure identification for online transactions – in other words, it provides sufficient verification of an individual’s identity to allow that person to electronically … Continue Reading
After two years of investigation and proceedings regarding Google’s privacy policy, European Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) are now reaching their final decisions against Google. The French DPA (“CNIL”) issued ,on January 3rd 2014, a decision ruling that Google’s privacy policy did not comply with the French Data Protection laws and imposed a fine of € … Continue Reading
The determination of the territorial scope of the current EU Directive n° 95/46 is still under dispute both before national Courts and the European Court of Justice (ECJ). This issue may soon become moot with the adoption of future data protection regulation, which may modify and expand the territorial scope of EU data privacy law, … Continue Reading
This past month, the European Union’s Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (the “Working Party”) issued the Working Document 02/2013 providing new guidance on obtaining consent for cookies (“Working Document”). The Working Document sets forth various mechanisms which can be utilized by websites to obtain consent for the use of cookies in compliance with all … Continue Reading
On October 21, a key European parliamentary committee (the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (“Committee”) approved an amended version of the draft EU Data Protection Regulation, paving the way for further negotiations with EU governmental bodies. The goal, according to a press release by the Committee, is to reach compromise on the … Continue Reading
In a recent decision (deliberation CNIL May 30, 2013 n°2013-139), the French Data Protection Agency (CNIL) sanctioned a company for implementing a CCTV system without informing employees and because the CCTV enabled the constant monitoring of one employee making the recording disproportionate to the goal pursued. The CNIL also sanctioned the company because it failed … Continue Reading
Are social media companies based in the United States subject to European data privacy laws? Two recent judicial decisions – one in France and the other in Germany – arrived at different answers. The Civil Court of Paris held that Twitter, based in California, was obligated under the French Code of Civil Procedure to reveal … Continue Reading
The French, Italian, British, German, Spanish and Dutch Data Protection Authorities announced on April 2, 2013 that each will launch investigations and enforcement actions against Google on the grounds that its privacy policy is not compliant with the European Directive on Data Protection, available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm, (the “Directive”).… Continue Reading
It has been reported that Google will give EU businesses the opportunity to store personal data exclusively on servers in the EU. This appears to have been prompted by compliance difficulties with the current EU data protection Directive when cloud computing service providers store personal data on servers or in data centres based outside the … Continue Reading
Concurrent with the European Commission’s recent release of a new strategy to “unleash the potential of cloud computing in Europe,” the French Data Protection Agency (CNIL) issued 7 recommendations to assist companies to comply with French law when using cloud computing services.… Continue Reading
On June 7, 2012, the Article 29 Working Party, an independent advisory body composed of representatives from the national data protection authorities of the EU Member States, the European Data Protection Supervisor and the European Commission, issued Opinion 04/2012 regarding which types of cookies are exempted from the informed user-consent requirement under Directive 2002/58 … Continue Reading
On May 28th, the Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (“CNIL”), the French authority responsible for data privacy, published guidance on breach notification law affecting electronic communications service providers. The guidance was issued with reference to European Directive 2002/58/EC, the e-Privacy Directive, which imposes specific breach notification requirements on electronic communication service providers. French legislator recently amended … Continue Reading
The European Commission (the “EC”) has announced its anticipated comprehensive reform of EU data protection rules, intended to strengthen online privacy rights and boost Europe’s digital economy. The proposal is intended to update and modernize the principles enshrined in the 1995 Data Protection Directive. If approved, unlike the current rules which give each of the 27 … Continue Reading
On February 16, 2010, the EU Article 29 Working Party published Opinion 1/2010, in which it clarified the definitions of "data controller" and "data processor" as those designations are used within the European Data Protection Directive. The Working Party's opinion is welcome guidance, as such designations are often difficult to apply in practice, especially given the increasing complexity of globalization, organizational differentiation, and information and communication technologies.
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The European Commission has updated its Standard Contractual Clauses which govern the transfer of personal data from data exporters within the European Union to data processors outside of the European Union.
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On January 5, 2010, the EU Article 29 Data Protection Working Party published an opinion finding that Israel provides an "adequate" level of data protection under the EU Data Protection Directive. Should the European Commission ("EC") adopt the Article 29 Working Party’s recommendation (and there is no reason to think that it would not), Israel … Continue Reading
