US postpones law for equal privacy rights for EU citizens

A US Senate committee has decided to postpone voting on the Judicial Redress Act. This law would give EU citizens the same rights as Americans and make it possible to sue the US under its privacy law.

According to Reuters, the new law for the EU is an important part of the ongoing negotiations on a new Safe Harbor arrangement. The Judicial Redress Act makes it possible for EU citizens to sue the US government for unlawful disclosure of personal information obtained for investigative purposes.

While the law would provide the same rights to Americans and EU citizens under the terms of the US privacy law, there are also critical voices. For example, under current privacy legislation, Americans would only have limited rights and nothing would be included in the regulation that would prevent the collection of personal data. Partly because of this, EU citizens would not benefit much from the new legislation. According to Forbes, the vote scheduled for Thursday has been postponed by an amendment.

Until now, it was unlikely that a new Safe Harbor arrangement between the EU and the US would come before the January 31 deadline. This development puts even more pressure on the negotiations. The privacy watchdogs of the 28 EU member states also discussed possible enforcement instruments on Wednesday. They want to use these when the deadline for a new scheme has passed.

Reuters claims that the discussion was about limiting the transfer of personal data to the US by means of binding corporate rules and standard contractual clauses. These currently make it possible for companies to pass on data in the absence of a Safe Harbor arrangement. The consultative body of European privacy regulators, the Article 29 working group, may want to bring this into line with the Safe Harbor ruling from 2 February by refusing new authorizations for these schemes. However, the final decision on this is yet to be made by the working group at a meeting scheduled for that date.