European member states agree to US agreement on data exchange

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The members of the European Union have all agreed to Privacy Shield, the agreement between Europe and the US on data exchange between companies. This is a major step towards the entry into force of the agreement.

The Privacy Shield is an agreement that allows companies in Europe and the US to exchange data about users under certain rules. The EU and the US reached an agreement on Privacy Shield two weeks ago, after it became clear this spring that there was a lot of criticism of the agreement from regulators. The changes that have been made since then are mainly about clarifying how and why US intelligence agencies collect data.

The US would also appoint a new privacy officer to handle complaints from EU citizens about espionage. The officer would work independently of the security services. Regulators previously warned that there is a high chance that a judge would sweep the agreement in its then form. It is unknown whether the regulators now think otherwise.

Now that all member states have given the green light, the European Commission still has to approve the agreement. Privacy Shield is to be the successor to the Safe Harbor arrangement, which was declared invalid by the European Court of Justice in October 2015.

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