Archives: Global Data Transfers

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Government releases proposals to reform UK data protection laws

By Cynthia O’Donoghue, Sarah O'Brien and Asélle Ibraimova on Posted in Big Data, Data & Cyber Security, Global Data Transfers, Information Governance, Privacy & Data Protection, Regulatory
On 17 June 2022, in response to its consultation in 2021 on the same topic (which we wrote about here), the UK government published more detailed proposals to reform data protection laws in the UK. The response to the consultation can be found here. The intention of the reforms is to achieve greater personal data … Continue Reading

Time to change to the new EU and UK Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs)

By Cynthia O’Donoghue, Dr. Andreas Splittgerber and Asélle Ibraimova on Posted in Global Data Transfers, Privacy & Data Protection
As you might know, the new EU SCCs were published last year. The UK has now issued new templates for data transfers that can be used from 21 March 2022. With the UK templates confirmed and available, many multinational organisations with presence in the EU and the UK are gearing up to transition their contracts … Continue Reading

So you have got BCRs? You may still need to use the new EU SCCs

By Christian Leuthner and Asélle Ibraimova on Posted in Global Data Transfers
The arrival of the new EU Standard Contractual Clauses (“EU SCCs”) for international transfers in June 2021 was widely awaited to better understand the new requirements to assess the third-country laws for government access to data prior to using the SCCs following the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (“CJEU”) decision on Schrems II. … Continue Reading

GDPR: Is it a transfer? Is it not a transfer? It’s EDPB guidance on Chapter V

By Cynthia O’Donoghue on Posted in Global Data Transfers
The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) recently adopted Guidelines 05/2021 (the Guidelines) on the interplay between what it means to be outside the European Economic Area (EEA) but directly applicable to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and what constitutes an international transfer under Chapter V of the GDPR. The Guidelines set out a ‘cumulative’ … Continue Reading

South Korea – EDPB adopts an opinion on the Commission’s draft adequacy decision

By Cynthia O’Donoghue and Asélle Ibraimova on Posted in Global Data Transfers
On 24 September 2021, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) issued its opinion on the European Commission’s (EC) draft adequacy decision in respect of South Korea. On 16 June 2021, the EC launched the procedure for the adoption of an adequacy decision for South Korea under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which would allow free transfers of … Continue Reading

European Commission issues New Standard Clauses for data transfers outside the EEA: Act within 18 months

By Cynthia O’Donoghue, Dr. Andreas Splittgerber and Asélle Ibraimova on Posted in Global Data Transfers
Today the European Commission issued the new and long-awaited Standard Contractual Clauses, available here (SCCs). These new SCCs contain updates for the GDPR, and replace the three sets of SCCs that were adopted under the previous Data Protection Directive. The SCCs released today include the following modules: Controller to controller transfers, Controller to processor transfers, … Continue Reading

Aftermath of Schrems II decision in France: The French Council of State provides significant clarification on the U.S. based data host to provide services in the French health care sector

By Daniel Kadar, Stéphanie Abdesselam and Laetitia Gaillard on Posted in Global Data Transfers, Privacy & Data Protection, Regulatory
On March 12, 2021, the French Council of State (Conseil d’Etat), the highest French administrative court, handed down a ruling (ordonnance des référés) allowing Doctolib, a company in charge of booking COVID-19 vaccination appointments, to rely on a U.S.-based health data host. In the present case, the servers of Doctolib – whose platform had been … Continue Reading

Tech Law Talks: Technology transactions trends in 2021

By Sarah Bruno and LiLing Poh on Posted in Global Data Transfers, Intellectual Property, Privacy & Data Protection, Regulatory, Tech & Outsourcing
In this episode, Sarah Bruno and LiLing Poh discuss recent trends as organizations invest more in technology through the acquisition of new platforms or programs, or by working with a vendor to bring a product to market. Exploring a case study involving a global pharmaceutical company on the rollout of a health-related digital app, they … Continue Reading

Amendments to the Electronic Transactions Act offer new opportunities for trade and commodities finance and fintechs in Singapore

By Omar Al-Ali, Hagen Rooke, Carolyn Chia, Resource Law LLC, Jemma Collins and Judith Abanto on Posted in Global Data Transfers, Regulatory
The Singapore government introduced a bill into parliament to amend the Electronic Transactions Act (ETA) (Cap. 88) (ETA) on January 4, 2021. The amendments set out in the Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Bill will be of relevance to the trade and commodities finance and fintech sectors as their primary object is to achieve recognition and equivalence … Continue Reading

First official guidance on international data transfers post Schrems II – German data protection authority publishes checklist and action items on international data transfers

By Dr. Andreas Splittgerber and Arne Senger on Posted in Global Data Transfers, Regulatory
The German data protection authority of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg (LfDI BW) has issued detailed guidance (Guidance) on international data transfers this August and September. This is the first official guidance by a data protection authority following the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the Schrems II case … Continue Reading

Recent developments concerning Brazil’s General Data Protection Law

By Bart Huffman, Sarah Bruno, Matthew Gluschankoff and Haylie Treas on Posted in Global Data Transfers, Privacy & Data Protection
In August 2018, Brazil passed its General Data Protection Law (LGPD), which could become effective as soon as September 16, 2020. Now is the time for organizations that collect personal data of individuals in Brazil or process personal data in Brazil to assess their processing activities and consider how to comply with the new law, … Continue Reading

Implications for your business due to U.S. Executive Order on WeChat

By Denise Jong, Leigh T. Hansson, Dora Wang and Inez Wong on Posted in Global Data Transfers, Regulatory, Social, Mobile, Analytics & Cloud (SMAC)
Michael R. Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, announced the “Clean Network Program” which aims to ban the so-called “untrusted” carriers, applications, mobile application stores, cloud service providers, operators of undersea cables connecting the United States and the global internet on August 5, 2020. Companies that are involved in these businesses, or entities that transact … Continue Reading

Schrems II: It is not all bad news for international data transfers

By Cynthia O’Donoghue, Philip Taylor, Dr. Andreas Splittgerber, Christian Leuthner, Elle Todd and Sarah O'Brien on Posted in Global Data Transfers, In the Courts, Privacy & Data Protection
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down its judgment on a case brought by privacy rights activist, Max Schrems (C-311/18, Data Protection Commissioner v. Facebook Ireland Limited, Maximillian Schrems) (Schrems II) yesterday, July 16, 2020. The case concerned the transfer of personal data to recipients in the United States via the EU … Continue Reading

Singapore’s data transfer rules amended to recognise APEC CBPR and PRP certifications

By Charmian Aw and Carolyn Chia, Resource Law LLC on Posted in Global Data Transfers
On 4 June 2020, Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Regulations 2014 (Regulations) were amended to specify that recipients of personal data located outside Singapore which are certified under the Asia‑Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross-Border Privacy Rules (APEC CBPR) System, would satisfy the cross-border data transfer requirements under Singapore’s data protection law. The same outcome would be achieved … Continue Reading

The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield: feedback, and potential EU recognition of privacy laws of California and other U.S. states?

By Katalina Bateman, Alexis Cocco and Karen Lee Lust on Posted in Global Data Transfers
Background On October 23, 2019, the European Commission (EC) released its report on a third annual review of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield. While the report confirms that the U.S. continues to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data transfers in the context of the Privacy Shield, there are some gaps between the expectations … Continue Reading

A snapshot comparison of data protection certifications in Singapore

By Charmian Aw on Posted in Global Data Transfers, Information Governance, Privacy & Data Protection
Increasingly, businesses are looking to adopt data protection certifications and standards for myriad reasons, including enhancing consumer trust, demonstrating compliance when contracting with partners and managing regulatory risk. We have prepared a high-level comparison to guide Singapore businesses in determining which certification or certifications could be the best fit. ISO/IEC 27701:2019 Who can apply: All … Continue Reading

Guidance given on Singapore cross-border data transfer obligation for intermediaries and cloud providers

By Charmian Aw on Posted in Global Data Transfers, Privacy & Data Protection, Social, Mobile, Analytics & Cloud (SMAC)
In Singapore, private sector organisations must generally comply with the transfer limitation obligation in the Personal Data Protection Act (the Act). Any transfer of personal data outside Singapore must be in accordance with the Act’s requirements, to ensure that a comparable standard of protection is accorded to that data. However, where an organisation is a … Continue Reading

FTC settlement and warning letters over cross-border personal data transfers

By Mark Quist and Gerard Stegmaier on Posted in Data & Cyber Security, Global Data Transfers
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recently announced settlement with background check provider SecurTest, Inc. shows the agency remains vigilant regarding businesses’ claims that they comply with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework (Privacy Shield). Privacy Shield provides U.S. businesses with a legally recognized mechanism for receiving personal data in the United States from the EU. In … Continue Reading

Get your update on IT & Data Protection Law in our Newsletter (Winter 2019 edition)

By Dr. Andreas Splittgerber and Sven Schonhofen on Posted in Global Data Transfers, In the Courts, Intellectual Property, Privacy & Data Protection, Social, Mobile, Analytics & Cloud (SMAC)
The Winter 2019 edition of the quarterly IT & Data Protection Newsletter by Reed Smith Germany has just been released. We provide updates on Facebook Custom Audiences, social plug-ins, influencer advertising, withdrawal right information, the EU copyright law reform and more. The newsletter also includes multiple recommended reads on the GDPR. We hope you enjoy … Continue Reading

First sanction decision rendered by the CNIL under the GDPR: GDPR awareness 2.0 has begun

By Daniel Kadar and Laetitia Gaillard on Posted in Big Data, Cookies, Tracking & Online Behavioral Advertising, Global Data Transfers, Privacy & Data Protection, Regulatory
In an interview dated February 2018,[1] Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, at the Head of the French data protection authority (CNIL), stated that the CNIL would adopt a flexible and pragmatic approach from May 2018 onwards when controlling compliance with data protection requirements. The first decision of sanction rendered by the CNIL on Monday January 21, 2019, which … Continue Reading

Get your update on IT & Data Protection Law in our Newsletter (Fall 2018 edition)

By Dr. Andreas Splittgerber and Sven Schonhofen on Posted in Global Data Transfers, In the Courts, Intellectual Property, Privacy & Data Protection, Social, Mobile, Analytics & Cloud (SMAC)
The Fall 2018 edition of the quarterly IT & Data Protection Newsletter by Reed Smith Germany has just been released. We provide updates on Facebook fan pages, the right to be forgotten, cease and desists by competitors under GDPR, spamming and customer satisfaction surveys, the German Network Enforcement Act, and more. The newsletter also includes … Continue Reading

FTC continues aggressive enforcement of Privacy Shield

By Cynthia O’Donoghue, Gerard Stegmaier and Kelley Chittenden on Posted in Global Data Transfers, Privacy & Data Protection
On Thursday, September 27, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced settlements with four companies, IDmission, LLC, mResource LLC (doing business as Loop Works, LLC), SmartStart Employment Screening, Inc., and VenPath, Inc., following allegations that the companies falsely claimed to be certified under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield. Specifically, the FTC alleged that IDmission, LLC misrepresented participation … Continue Reading

ICO issues new guidance on international data transfers under GDPR

By Cynthia O’Donoghue and John O'Brien on Posted in Big Data, Global Data Transfers
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published new guidance on international data transfers (the guidance) under the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (GDPR). Ex-EU personal data transfers The GDPR restricts the transfer of personal data to non-EU countries or international organisations. The ICO has clarified that a transfer is restricted if: The GDPR … Continue Reading
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