On the same day that the European Commission debuted the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, the Article 29 Working Party (WP29) issued a statement welcoming the publication of the draft “adequacy decision” of the European Commission as well as the legal texts that constitute the Privacy Shield arrangement. In accordance with its mission, WP29 said that it would […]
European Union (EU)
Article 29 Working Party announces its 2016 Action Plan for GDPR Preparedness
During a press conference held on February 3, 2016, the President of the Article 29 Working Party (“Working Party”) discussed the Working Party’s 2016 action plan concerning the new General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). The action plan lays out the groundwork required to prepare the DPAs for their new role under the GDPR and to […]
Germany’s Christmas Present: Data-Protection Class Actions
Following the European Court of Justice’s Schrems decision invalidating the Safe Harbor mechanism, much attention has focused on how the Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) of EU member states would interpret and enforce Schrems. While close attention to DPA activity is important—and will become even more so upon the passage of the EU General Data Protection […]
Updated Schrems ECJ / Safe Harbor Ruling FAQs
Alston & Bird has published an updated set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the decision by the European Court of Justice holding that the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework is invalid (also known as the Schrems decision). The FAQs are designed to help companies that rely on the Safe Harbor Framework understand the scope of the ECJ […]
A Busy Month for German Data Protection
The European Court of Justice handed down its Schrems decision invalidating the Safe Harbor mechanism on October 6, 2015. Since then, companies have been looking to the Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) of EU member states to see how the decision would be interpreted and enforced. As many companies know, Germany is a multifaceted data-protection landscape. […]