Policy Observatory
The EU is all about bringing down barriers: barriers to movement, to trade, to opportunity. And that needs to continue.
The evidence shows that – within the EU alone – a digital single market could be worth 4% of GDP; that's on average an extra 1500 dollars a year pocket of each of our half a billion citizens. Make that digital single market transatlantic – and the benefits are there to see: for innovation, for prosperity, for freedom.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between Europe and the United States have been published by the European Commission.
Right now, European citizens do not have the right to challenge misuse of their data by the US government in US courts -- even though American citizens already enjoy this right in most European countries. It’s why Google supports legislation to extend the US Privacy Act to EU citizens. The Obama Administration has already pledged its support for this change and we look forward to to working with Congress to try and make this happen.
The two sides have been negotiating since 2011 over the so-called "umbrella agreement" that would protect personal data exchanged between police and judicial authorities in the course of investigations, as well as between companies and law enforcement authorities.
The European Commission, which leads the negotiations on behalf of the EU, has said that it aims to complete those negotiations before the summer.
The European Commission is working with the United States on the final details of the Safe Harbour agreement which was put up for renegotiation after the exposed U.S. mass surveillance practices. Under the new deal, U.S. registered companies will face stricter rules when transferring data to third parties.
Brussels has demanded guarantees from the United States that the collection of EU citizens' data for national security purposes would be limited to what is necessary and proportionate. The new deal would allow both sides to monitor the functioning of Safe Harbour, including how the limitations on U.S. authorities' access to the data are being applied.
U.S. President Barack Obama in June signed a bill reforming a government surveillance program. He also plans to extend certain protections enjoyed by U.S. citizens to foreigners.
EU Commissioner Věra Jourová: "I am very pleased that today we have finalised negotiations with the US on high data protection standards for transatlantic law enforcement cooperation.
Robust cooperation between the EU and the US to fight crime and terrorism is crucial to keep Europeans safe. But all exchanges of personal data, such as criminal records, names or addresses, need to be governed by strong data protection rules. This is what the Umbrella Agreement will ensure."