Evolving legal aspects on 3rd country transfers on personal data and safe harbour

Abstract

With the rapid technology evolvement, we are becoming more of a global village. Therefore, the need to interact on an international scale has turned out to be a continuous process. Naturally, laws differentiate from one country to another which sometimes causes a hindrance for this process to materialise. In this thesis the operation of third country transfers of personal data in light of Directive 95/46/EC and the recently enacted General Data Protection Regulation is investigated. Particular attention is given to the EU-U.S Safe Harbour which served as a tool for personal data to be transferred across border. Such an agreement came to an end through the Maximillian Schrems judgment. One can find an in-depth analysis of the reasoning behind this decision granted by the Court of Justice, which will help in building the requisites of what entails in the replacement of the EU-U.S Safe Harbour adequacy decision. As from the 12th July 2016, European businesses may now transfer personal data under the aegis of the EU- U.S. Privacy Shield. An evaluation of this freshly concluded adequacy decision is given, whereby it is brought to comparison with the previous EU-U.S. Safe Harbour agreement. In the end, this will lead to the final crucial assessment, whether the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield is in truth sufficient to the stricter rules employed in the General Data Protection Regulation which after all, the main scope of such legislation is to protect the right to a private life as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.