The U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Commission announced on Tuesday that they have entered into a new transatlantic safe harbor transfer agreement, which comes two days after the deadline set by EU data protection authorities.
The pact, according to the EU Commission, known as the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, includes stronger obligations for U.S. companies to protect the personal data of EU citizens, and will require monitoring and enforcement by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission.
The pact will allow EU citizens to complain about misuse of their data through a newly created privacy ombudsperson for national security, and there will be limitations on law enforcement and intelligence authorities’ access to EU citizens’ data.
The deal will be presented to the EU’s College of Commissioners for approval. Separately, the Article 29 Working Party is expected to announce its plans for enforcement of transatlantic data transfers in the next few days.