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Top EU court rules transatlantic data deal invalid

Xinhua, October 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

A crucial transatlantic data-sharing deal which allows American tech companies such as Facebook to transfer users' data from the EU to the United States is invalid, the European Court of Justice has ruled on Tuesday.

"The Court of Justice declares that the (European) Commission's U.S. Safe Harbor Decision is invalid," it said in a decision on a case brought against Facebook by Austrian law student Max Schrems.

The EU data protection laws forbid its citizens' data being exported to countries outside the EU without adequate levels of protection. But under the so-called "Safe Harbor" agreement, businesses to transfer personal data of European citizens to the United States are allowed as long as they meet seven EU principles.

Since its introduction in 2000, the agreement has come to be relied on by 4,400 businesses, including internet giants such as Facebook, Google and Amazon.

However, Maximillian Schrems, an Austrian law student, argued that since Facebook data was subject to mass surveillance by the U.S. intelligence agencies, it did not offer an adequate level of protection.

As a Facebook user since 2008, Schrems lodged a complaint with the Irish supervisory authority, taking the view that, in the light of the revelations made in 2013 by Edward Snowden concerning the activities of the United States intelligence services, in particular the National Security Agency (NSA), the law and practice of the United States do not offer sufficient protection against surveillance by the public authorities of the data transferred to that country.

The Irish authority rejected the complaint. The case was brought to the High Court of Ireland and later transferred to the European court.

After investigation, European Court of Justice concluded the agreement invalid, saying "the transfer of the data of Facebook's European subscribers to the United States should be suspended."

As thousands of U.S. businesses rely on the agreement as a means of moving information to the United States from Europe, local media said U.S. companies have to restructure their business to avoid breaking the law.

They have to put replacement measures in place and these will take a lot of time and money, analysts said. Endit