After the invalidation of the EU-US Safe Harbour regime in October last year, many EU businesses have relied on Model Clauses as a means of legitimising the transfers of data between the EU and the US … particularly as the “Privacy Shield” negotiated to replace Safe Harbour has been heavily attacked as inadequate.
Max Schrems (the Austrian Privacy campaigner whose case against Facebook is the root of the European Court of Justice rulings invalidating Safe Harbour) has announced that the Irish Data Protection Commissioner will now refer to the ECJ whether Facebook’s use of Model Clauses is a legitimate alternative means of transferring data from the EU to the US under EU law.
The outcome is likely to have significant implications for many UK businesses.
