A bipartisan team of legislators, led by U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), recently urged U.S. officials to quickly work with European leaders on implementing a successor to the Safe Harbor Agreement, allowing for the secure trans-Atlantic transfer of data.
In a letter sent to Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, Upton, who is the chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, also called on U.S. and European leaders to promptly issue interim guidance during the ongoing negotiations for a new agreement.
The European Court of Justice struck down the 15-year-old Safe Harbor agreement earlier this month, ruling that the agreement gave the U.S. government too much access to personal data belonging to Europeans.
“The globally-connected Internet is an important driver of economic development and a key underpinning of the trade relationship between the United States and European Union (EU),” the letter stated. “Cross-border data flows between the U.S. and EU are the highest in the world, some 50 percent higher than data flows between the U.S. and Asia, and nearly double the data flows between the U.S. and Latin America. Disruption of this free flow of information would have unfortunate effects on students, consumers, and businesses, as well as speech and innovation more generally.”
The EU court’s decision threw a wrench into trans-Atlantic e-commerce.
“The recent decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to invalidate the Safe Harbor Agreement unfortunately creates significant uncertainty for the customers and partners of businesses that send data between Europe and the United States,” the legislators concluded. “The ECJ decision makes urgent the need to redouble your efforts and conclude a successor to the now-invalidated Safe Harbor Agreement. It is imperative these businesses are able to continue operating in the absence of the Safe Harbor.”
Joining Upton in writing the letter were U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-SD) and Bill Nelson (D-FL), the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, along with Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), the ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, along with 52 other legislators.