The European Court of Justice has annulled the Safe Harbor Program
(European Court of Justice, decision dated October 06, 2015 – C 362/14)
It is now apparent since the ruling of the European Court of Justice dated October 06, 2015 (C 362/14): The Safe Harbor Program is invalid. The European Court of Justice has annulled the previous respective decision by the EU Commission (2000/520/EC dated July 26, 2000). This means that, as of the date of the Court’s ruling, what is essentially the most important legal basis for the legally compliant transfer of personal data from the EU to the USA is not effective anymore.
The main argument of the European Court of Justice is that the American authorities have the opportunity to access the content of electronic communications that form part of the data transfer between the EU and the USA. Furthermore, the Court points out that, in its opinion, there is no legal protection in place against data access and there are no opportunities to have incorrect data corrected or deleted. This has led the European Court of Justice to find infringements against Articles 7, 8 and 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.