Privacy Shield

The Privacy Shield entered into force on July 12, 2016, and is an agreement between the European Union and the United States. The subject of the agreement is the exchange of personal data between the European Union and the United States.

The 1995 European Privacy Directive prohibits the exchange of personal data with a country outside the European Union if that country does not provide an adequate level of protection with regard to personal data. The United States is a country that does not provide an adequate level of protection, so exchange with the United States is not permitted.

To make the exchange of personal data between the European Union and the United States possible, it is necessary to draw up a treaty for this. Initially, these were supposed to be the Safe Harbor Principles.

The Safe Harbor Principles were declared inadequate by the Court of Justice of the European Union in 2015 when the Privacy Shield was drawn up.