The EU-US Privacy Shield was a framework for data transfers between the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), which was adopted in July 2016.
The Privacy Shield was intended to replace the Safe Harbor agreement, which was invalidated by the European Court of Justice in 2015.
Under the Privacy Shield, US companies could self-certify their compliance with EU data protection requirements, allowing them to receive and process personal data from the EU without violating EU data protection rules.
However, the Privacy Shield was invalidated by the European Court of Justice in July 2020, citing concerns over US government surveillance practices when the European Court of Justice (CJEU) delivered a decision in the case- Schrems II (C-3111/18) on the adequacy of data protection mechanisms, marking the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework is no longer valid as a mechanism that allows compliance with EU data protection requirements for the transfer of personal data from the European Union to the United States.
The European Commission and the US Government have started negotiations on a successor arrangement to the EU-US Privacy Shield to comply with the judgement of the Court.
