Schrems 2.0 – a Challenge to Standard Contractual Clauses

Litigation brought by Mr.Maximilian Schrems before the Irish High Court (Schrems 2.0) is a case which concerns an assessment of the compatibility of standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission with EU law of data privacy. In practice, these clauses are the most widely used data transfer instrument, allowing businesses to transfer personal data relatively freely from the European Economic Area to third countries, at the same time ensuring the necessary protection for the main stakeholders – EU data subjects. The Irish Court has referred prejudicial questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Among the questions is whether of Standard Contractual clauses are a legitimate means of transfer if public authorizes are not bound. If model clauses are considered as providing “appropriate safeguards” only if they are also binding on third country public authorities, such a decision could undermine their design and, moreover, may significantly weaken other relevant transfer instruments, such as binding corporate rules and codes of conduct. Thus, privacy professionals will want to closely follow the development of the Schrems 2.0 case. http://www.cms-lawnow.com/ealerts/2018/08/schrems-2-0?cc_lang=en