United States and European Union advance in data regulation

Insiders say the United States and the European Union are making progress on joint consultation on data privacy regulations. This was reported by the Wall Street Journal.

In these conversations both sides are trying to resolve the conflict between EU data privacy law and the limits of US and US intelligence laws so that data can be moved between the two regions without any problem.

Conflict between laws and mutual regulations

At the heart of the conflict is the conflict between European data protection law on the one hand and US intelligence law on the other. These contradict each other and can prevent the free flow of business data.

This mainly involves storing data on European individuals in data centers located in the United States. Under European GDPR law, companies cannot simply disclose this data for the purpose of spying. US law allows intelligence agencies to request this information without further delay.

The latest European case law

A recent decision by the European Court of Justice shows that European companies processing personal data cannot send it to American data centers. This is because EU residents in the US cannot legally oppose access to their data by the US government.

Implications for tech companies

For example, the move has major implications for big tech companies like Facebook and Google. In Ireland, where the EU’s headquarters are located, Facebook recently received a warning from an Irish privacy regulator asking it to stop storing personal data on US soil. In Portugal, too, the National Statistics Office had to stop processing certain data because it uses CloudFlare’s data centers in the United States.

It remains to be seen what the outcome of the discussions will be. If the US wants to meet with the EU in this area, US law will likely need to be changed. Experts have told the Wall Street Journal this is not going to happen any time soon.