Europe's data privacy case looms over EU trade ties

Subject

Schrems 2.

Significance

Earlier this month, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) began hearings on the so-called ‘Schrems 2’ case on the protection of European citizens’ data transferred outside the EU, principally to the United States but also more broadly.

Impacts

• Tensions between EU and US data protection policies could be resolved by a US federal privacy law.
• However, such a law is unlikely to be agreed before the 2020 elections.
• A Court ruling against Standard Contractual Clauses could jeopardise data transfer links between the EU and the United Kingdom post-Brexit.