Lawmakers unhappy with EU’s invalidation of safe harbors agreement

The leadership of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee voiced concern after a European Union court invalidated the safe harbors agreement — which allowed for data transfers between the United States and the European Union — on Tuesday. 

The European Court of Justice struck the agreement down, saying it was flawed because it allowed the U.S. government full access to Europeans’ online information, thus infringing on their privacy rights. 

“The ripple of uncertainty caused by today’s decision is cause for concern as digital data flows have become a bedrock of commerce,” the committee’s leaders said. “We must be mindful of any decision that threatens U.S. jobs and the strong commercial ties between our country and the European Union.”

The committee’s leadership includes Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ranking Member Frank Pauline, Jr. (D-NJ), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Ranking Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Michael C. Burgess (R-TX) and Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).

“In this ever-evolving area, there have been good conversations across the Atlantic to address privacy,” the committee members said. “Our hope is that European regulators move quickly, working with the Department of Commerce and others here in the U.S., to provide a quick resolution to this unnecessary uncertainty.”

To that end, the committee has submitted a formal request for a briefing from the Department of Commerce to discuss the decision and what it means for the next steps in the safe harbor negotiations.