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EU-US data protection agreement negotiations finalized: EC

Xinhua, September 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

The data protection "Umbrella agreement" negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the United States were finalized and the agreement had just been initialed, announced the European Commission (EC) in a press release later Tuesday.

The EU-US data protection "Umbrella Agreement" put in place a comprehensive high-level data protection framework for EU-US law enforcement cooperation, said the press release.

The Agreement covers all personal data, including names, addresses and criminal records, etc., exchanged between the EU and the United States for the purpose of prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of criminal offences, including terrorism, said the press release.

The "Umbrella Agreement" would provide safeguards and guarantees of lawfulness for data transfers, thereby strengthening fundamental rights, facilitating EU-US law enforcement cooperation and restoring trust, said the press release.

In particular, EU citizens would benefit from equal treatment, as they would have the same judicial redress rights as U.S. citizens in case of privacy breaches, emphasized the EC.

For the next steps, the "Umbrella Agreement" would be signed and formally concluded only after the U.S. Judicial Redress Bill, granting judicial redress rights to EU citizens, would have been adopted.

For the EU, the Council, on the basis of a proposal by the E C, shall adopt a decision authorizing the signing of the Agreement. The decision concluding the agreement would be adopted by the Council after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament. Endit