European Commission proposes signature, conclusion of EU-US data protection Umbrella Agreement

The European Commission on Friday proposed the Council of the European Union (EU) sign and conclude the EU-U.S. data protection Umbrella Agreement.

The Commission and the United States finalized the negotiations in September 2015, and in February, U.S.President Barrack Obama signed the Judicial Redress Act, granting judicial redress rights to EU citizens, opening the way for the Umbrella Agreement's signature, according to the Commission.

The agreement would put in place a comprehensive high-level data protection framework for EU-U.S. law enforcement cooperation, said the Commission.

The agreement covers all personal data exchanged between the EU and the United States for the purpose of prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of criminal offences, including terrorism.

It would provide safeguards and guarantees of lawfulness for data transfers, and provide EU citizens the same judicial redress rights as U.S. citizens in privacy breach cases.

"This is an historic achievement to rebuild trust in transatlantic data flows and to strengthen the fundamental right to privacy," said European Commissioner Vera Jourova.

"The Council shall now adopt a decision authorizing the signing of the agreement. Once the agreement is signed, the decision concluding the agreement will be adopted by the Council after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament," the Commission said. Endit