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2nd LD: EP gives consent to EU-U.S. Data Protection Agreement

Xinhua, December 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

The EU-U.S. data protection agreement has been given consent by the European Parliament in a vote held on Thursday morning while the parliament was meeting in a part-session here.

Members of European Parliament (MEPs) gave strong support to the umbrella agreement with 481 votes in favor, 75 against and 88 abstentions.

The agreement aims to ensure high, binding data protection standards for data exchanged between law enforcement authorities for cross border prevention, tracking and prosecution of criminal offences, including terrorist acts.

Two separate motions for resolutions, tabled respectively by the European United Left / Nordic Green Left group (GUE/NGL) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group (ALDE), and both seeking a European Court of Justice (ECJ) opinion on the compatibility of the EU-U.S. deal on the protection of personal data exchanged for law enforcement purposes, were struck down just prior to the vote of consent.

The European Commission and the United States had both previously signed the umbrella agreement on data protection in June, but it required parliamentary consent in order to enter into force. Endit