USCIB co-signed a multi-association letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in response to a July 16 ruling by the European Court of Justice (CJEU) that invalidated the 2016 EU-US Privacy Shield framework governing the protection of transatlantic data flows.

The Privacy Shield plays a critical role for data transfers for over 5,300 U.S. companies, 70 percent of which are Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). These companies contribute significantly to the nearly $1.1 trillion in U.S. total trade in goods and services with the EU. Companies in the automotive, retail, hospitality, logistics, health care, manufacturing and human resource management fields are all certified to the Privacy Shield Program.

The multi-association letter urges the U.S. government to work collaboratively with EU counterparts “to develop a stable and sustainable mechanism for companies to transfer data between the EU and United States” and to ensure that EU regulators allow data transfers to continue while a new agreement is under discussion.

The letter further notes the urgent implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has required many American businesses to use remote services and rely upon the ability to move data across many borders.

The CJEU did, however, uphold the validity of the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) privacy protective mechanism for transferring data.