Universidade do Minho. Centro de Estudos em Direito da União Europeia (CEDU)
Doi
Abstract
ABSTRACT: Safe Harbour (Henceforth, SH) has been the main enabler of EU-US personal
data transfers since Decision 2000/520/EC came into force. Initially, Safe Harbour was seen
as an innovative solution to a difficult problem. However, the problems the agreement was created
to solve were never remedied. Thus, it did not come as a surprise that the Court of Justice of
the European Union (hereinafter, CJEU), in Case C-362/14 (the Schrems ruling), deemed the
agreement invalid. In the story “And he built a crooked house”, the infamous ‘crooked house’,
designed by Robert A. Heinlein’s character Quintus Teal, mirrors SH’s flawed design. It also
exemplifies the fact that great innovations can fail if not thought through carefully. Although the
Schrems ruling’s scope does not go beyond Decision 2000/520/EC, it will force European Data
Protection Agencies to look deeper into alternative data transfer mechanisms and possibly, consider
transfers to jurisdictions other than the US. Furthermore, this decision highlights the fact that if
any progress on this front is going to be made going forward regarding personal data transfers, any
solution(s) would have to be made at a global level. This paper will provide an overview of the
implications of the CJEU ruling on data transfers between the EU and the US going forward.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio