The commission has been negotiating with the US over the final technical details of the Privacy Shield since the deal was announced in February. Washington and Brussels have been racing to implement recommendations by the bloc’s national privacy authorities, after warnings they could challenge the scheme in court if their guidance was not taken into account.
Under the completed deal, companies will have to delete personal data that no longer serves the purpose it was collected for and will oblige third party companies processing data from Privacy Shield companies to guarantee the same level of protection as the companies who have directly signed up to the framework.
The Privacy Shield aims to create a relatively easy way for businesses to transfer personal information about Europeans – from social media profiles to human-resources file – to US-based servers.
Even with the agreed changes, the new framework is likely to be tested in court, leading businesses to likely tread cautiously in the beginning.
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