Author:

Keywords:

Schrems, Privacy Shield, National Security, CJEU

Abstract:

The Schrems 2 decision by the European Court of Justice (CJEU) is finally here. Five years after the first EU-US Agreement (Safe Harbor) was invalidated, the CJEU annuls the second version of the transatlantic deal (Privacy Shield), at the same time posing strict limits on the viability of Standard Contractual Clauses for EU-US data transfers. Let us take a look at the judgment, so to understand whether the Court followed the AG’s recommendations and what consequences could be envisioned for the future of EU-US data transfers. This is the first of two blogposts. While the past episodes of the Schrems lawsuits and the findings of the Court are discussed here, in a second blogpost I will elaborate on several key takeaways and the broad significance of the Decision.