EU Parliamentary Committee Votes Against EU/US Data Privacy Directives

A Draft Motion for a Resolution on the adequacy of the protection afforded by the proposed EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, released by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, urged the European Commission last week not to adopt the framework, as it “fails to create actual equivalence” with the EU in the level of data protection that it provides.

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According to the motion, the proposed data privacy framework doesn’t fully comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, particularly in light of ongoing US policy that would allow for the large-scale, warrantless collection of user data for national security purposes.

European authorities have long been tougher on consumer data protection policies than their counterparts in most other jurisdictions, with landmark legislation such as the GDPR being responsible for shaping many privacy protection and data handling policies currently considered standard.

An executive order issued by the Biden Administration, the committee said, is insufficient additional protection for several reasons, including the mutability of policy made by executive order, which can simply be reversed or amended by the president at any time, as well as the inadequacy of the safeguards it provides.