Legally compliant use of US cloud services: BDI warns against end of agreement
Most data transfers to the USA are based on an agreement that the US president can overturn. If he does, it would be "devastating", according to the BDI.
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The most important association of German industry has warned of the consequences should US President Donald Trump overturn the agreement that currently forms the basis for GDPR-compliant data transfers between the EU and the United States. This was reported by Handelsblatt, citing Iris Plöger, Member of the Executive Board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI). If Trump were to overturn the Transatlantic Data Privacy Framework (TADPF), this would have devastating consequences for German companies and authorities. This would "lead to a great deal of additional work and legal uncertainty". However, there is apparently no specific reason for the warning.
First warnings immediately after Trump's inauguration
The Transatlantic Data Privacy Framework was intended to restore legal certainty after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) declared the transatlantic "Privacy Shield" null and void in summer 2020. Until then, this was one of the most important legal bases for the transfer of personal data of European citizens to the USA. On the US side, however, the TADPF is merely based on a decree by former US President Joe Biden, meaning that his successor can revoke it at any time. US intelligence services would then be able to access the data comprehensively again and data transfers from Europe would no longer be legally secure.
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The warning from the BDI comes against the backdrop that Europe is heavily dependent on cloud services from the USA, writes Handelsblatt. Their market share is therefore around 70 percent. If the Privacy Framework could no longer be invoked for use, this would have "serious consequences", warns the Chief Legal Officer of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce. The Noyb data protection association of activist Max Schrems, who fought for the end of the Privacy Shield in court, declared after Donald Trump took office that he had directly gutted the central US supervisory body for the agreement and undermined the TADPF. However, there were no consequences.
(mho)
