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Schrems II , from Snowden to China: Toward a new alignment on transatlantic data protection
Author(s) -
Rotenberg Marc
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
european law journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.351
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1468-0386
pISSN - 1351-5993
DOI - 10.1111/eulj.12370
Subject(s) - china , data protection act 1998 , political science , agency (philosophy) , democracy , law , convention , united states national security agency , government (linguistics) , economic justice , aside , public administration , sociology , national security , politics , art , social science , linguistics , philosophy , literature
Abstract When the Court of Justice announced the judgment in Schrems I , commentators described the outcome as an "earthquake" that tossed aside the fragile legal framework for transatlantic data flows known as the “Safe Harbor”. The judgment of the Court in Schrems II has now toppled the second framework, the “Privacy Shield”. In this article, I restate recommendations to the US Congress following the first Schrems judgment: (1) enact a comprehensive privacy law, (2) establish an independent data protection agency, and (3) ratify Council of Europe Convention 108. But I also explain that the United States and Europe are more aligned today in the common enterprise of data protection than they were five years ago, as the backdrop has shifted from the disclosures of Edward Snowden to the surveillance ambitions of the Chinese government. A common approach is therefore in the interests of these two key trading partners. There is also today shared urgency in strengthening the foundations of democratic institutions.