U.S. companies may find it somewhat less complicated to do business in Europe as the result of a new Department of Commerce policy program.
The agency has announced the official launching of what is called the Data Privacy Framework program, which is designed to aid in “facilitating cross-border transfers of personal data” in compliance with European Union law.
“Businesses large and small will be able to access a streamlined and affordable mechanism to transfer data between our jurisdictions,” Gina Raimondo, the secretary of the Commerce Department, said in a statement announcing the new program.
Noting that trade between the U.S. and Europe currently exceeds $1 trillion annually, the Commerce Department says the Data Privacy Framework program will prove “particularly valuable for small and medium-sized enterprises that can now access an affordable and streamlined mechanism for personal data transfers.”
The program will be available to entities in all of the European Union’s 27 countries.
The program has been a long time in the making process, crafted not only by the Commerce Department, but also the European Commission, the United Kingdom, and the Swiss Federal Administration.
As designed, it is also hoped that the program will resolve issues regarding the ability of U.S. intelligence agencies to gather information on European citizens. This matter, notes the New York Times, has singularly “pitted U.S. national security concerns against European privacy rights.”
With the consent of all involved parties, the agreement is seeing the creation of what is being called a Data Protection Review Court designed to review the complaints of any individual European concerned about data collection issues.
In a statement, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the Data Privacy Framework will “ensure safe data flows for Europeans and bring legal certainty to companies on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Von der Leyen additionally predicted that the new program will cement economic ties between the EU and the US and reaffirm what she called “our shared values.”
By Garry Boulard
