The European Commission recently released its highly anticipated Third Annual Report on the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield. Unlike prior reports, however, the Commission did not confirm that the U.S. continues to ensure an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred under the Privacy Shield Framework. That omission is highly significant for companies that currently rely on the Privacy Shield; it signals the need to explore other data transfer mechanisms should the Privacy Shield fall.
The Privacy Shield permits data transfers from the European Economic Area to U.S. companies that have self-certified compliance with certain data protection requirements. But two ...