The EU and US business on the Safe Harbor ruling

The Confederation supports fully the joint initiative of the European and American business.

The representatives of the European and American business have sent a joint letter to the European Council president Donald Tusk, the European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, the US president Barack Obama and the prime ministers of the EU member countries a joint letter relating to the impact of the Court of Justice of the European Union‘s ruling declaring invalid the Safe Harbor data-transfer agreement as well as to the search for a solution enabling a safe data transfer across the Atlantic.

The letter’s signatories, the BUSINESSEUROPE, the DIGITALEUROPE, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) and the US Chamber of Commerce, have pointed out that the cross-border data transfer is essential to innovation, job creation and economic growth in both Europe and the United States. Simultaneously, they support the effort of the European and American leaders to reach an agreement on a revised Safe Harbor agreement by the 31st January 2016 which is a deadline set out by Member State Data Protection Authorities. At the same time, the business representatives made an appeal to the both sides to provide a reasonable transition period in order for companies to come into compliance with the revised agreement and to work on a legally durable framework that reflects shared principles on privacy and security.

The Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic has repeatedly expressed its concern about the impact the ECJ’s ruling could have on the business relations between the EU and the USA as well as on the investment, innovation, job creation and digital economy development. As a consequence of the ruling, the companies may find themselves in a legal uncertainty because the alternative mechanisms applicable to the personal data transfer as, for example, model contractual clauses or binding corporate rules could be invalidated by means of the same principle as Safe Harbor.

The Confederation fears that the revised Safe Harbor agreement won’t be concluded by the end of January and the Member State Data Protection Authorities will start to penalize the companies (as well as the individuals). From this reason, the Confederation supports fully the joint initiative of the European and American business and the effort to find quickly a permanent and functional solution.

The joint letter