House Commerce Committee Members Call for Swift Resolution to Safe Harbor Negotiations

The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade and the Communications Subcommittee held a joint hearing to review the status of United States and European Union safe harbor negotiations. The safe harbor agreement that allowed for data to be transferred between the US and EU was recently nullified by the European Court of Justice. With over 4,000 American businesses, including those in technology, manufacturing, healthcare, energy, and retail, relying on the agreement, members reviewed the uncertainty generated by the court’s decision and discussed the administration’s work to finalize a new framework with their European counterparts.

“The borderless nature of the Internet is an important force driving economic success and innovation. For Internet-based companies, the value of the free flow of digital data between the EU and the US is obvious,” said Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR). “Without the shelter of a Safe Harbor, these businesses have the choice of operating at increased risk, paying expensive costs to lower that risk, or simply stopping the flow of information altogether -- that is, stopping business altogether.”