EU and US Release Details on Trans-Atlantic Data Transfer Deal

American and European officials released details about a new trans-Atlantic data transfer agreement, prompting a new round of debate about how companies like Google move digital information between the two regions. The pact is the formal version of an agreement hashed out in early February after often-bitter negotiations, revamping the rules for how technology giants like Facebook and other conglomerates like GE look up, collect and manage online data, including social media posts, search queries and e-commerce purchases. As part of the new agreement — known as the EU-US Privacy Shield — companies will face stricter rules over how they move people’s digital data from the European Union to the United States.

American officials have also agreed to new limits on the powers of the country’s intelligence agencies to gain access to Europeans’ online information when it is transferred to the United States. The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, also gave its official backing after it released a so-called adequacy decision, an official text required to turn the data transfer pact into law. Though the agreement still needs to be ratified by European Union member states, that is not expected to be contentious and is likely to happen in the coming months. Europe’s approval, however, was somewhat offset by a separate document also released Feb 29, in which the European Union called on the United States to bolster its domestic privacy rules. Federal efforts to offer new privacy protections have so far produced few new controls for American consumers.