Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield

On September 3, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced settlement agreements with five companies for alleged false claims of certification under the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield frameworks (collectively, “Privacy Shield”).  These settlements indicate that the FTC is continuing to actively enforce Privacy Shield commitments, as it has done…
Continue Reading FTC Settles Enforcement Actions Relating to Privacy Shield Certifications

On June 20, 2019, Keith Krach was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the Trump administration’s first permanent Privacy Shield Ombudsperson at the State Department.  The role of the Privacy Shield Ombudsperson is to act as an additional redress avenue for all EU data subjects whose data is transferred…
Continue Reading Privacy Shield Ombudsperson Confirmed by the Senate

Nearly 2,000 organizations are now listed as self-certified to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield on the Department of Commerce’s (“Commerce”) Privacy Shield website.  Given current developments on both sides of the Atlantic, there are likely to be significant Privacy Shield developments in the coming months.

EU Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová recently concluded her visit to the U.S. to meet with Trump Administration officials and others regarding the status of the Privacy Shield.  During her visit, Commissioner Jourová spoke about the importance of the Privacy Shield as a framework with “enormous potential to strengthen the transatlantic economy and reaffirm our shared values.”  She also met with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to discuss the Privacy Shield, and announced that the first annual joint review will occur in September, which she indicated would be “an important milestone where we need to check that everything is in place and working well.”
Continue Reading Privacy Shield Approaches 2,000 Participants; Review Scheduled for September

On January 12, 2017, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced the adoption of a Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield, to replace the existing Swiss-U.S. Safe Harbor Agreement.  Companies have a three month grace period to switch from the old to the new regime.

The Swiss version of the Privacy Shield had to…
Continue Reading Switzerland and US Announce New Commercial Data Transfer Framework