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EC calls for new EU-US data protection agreements
2013-11-27 17:06:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) The European Commission has issued a series of recommendations aimed at restoring trust after the revelations of widespread spying by US intelligence services of private communications in the EU. In addition to a quick adoption of the pending reform of the EU's data protection directive, the EC wants a reform of the existing Safe Harbour agreement that controls the transfer of private data used for commercial purposes between the the EU and US. A report published simultaneously on the functioning of the agreement shows the scheme "deficient in several respects", the EC said. It wants improvements to the system in place by next summer. The EC also called for the proposed agreement on the exchange of data between law enforcement and judicial officials to be completed soon. This is expected to give EU and US citizens the same rights in protecting their data, notably allowing EU citizens not resident in the US access to judicial redress there. The EC also called on US officials to stick to existing channels for requesting legal assistance, such as the Passenger Name Records Agreement and Terrorist Financing Tracking Programme, rather than going directly to private companies to obtain information on individuals. In addition, the EC wants the US to incorporate the rights of EU citizens in its ongoing review of the national security authorities' activities. The recommendations form part of a strategy paper published by the EC on trans-Atlantic data flows. The Commission also underlined that standards of data protection will not be part of the ongoing negotiations for a trans-Atlantic trade agreement.
Tags: data
protection
calls
agreements
Category:Telecommunications
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