Although the EU and the US have negotiated a new data transfers framework, the Privacy Shield, and the EC plans to have it in place next month, business for whom it is mainly intended are cautious. Many companies indicated in a POLITICO survey that the new framework will surely face a legal challenge and not everybody is sure it will survive it. If the opinion of national data protection authorities is an indication, they have a point. The national authorities issued an opinion recently, criticizing some weak aspects of the deal – i.e. independence of the proposed US ombudsman. The other point is that theoretically, there is still possibility of bulk data collection by US authorities for national security purposes. And as Commissioner Jourova points out, this issue is never completely going away. Businesses would welcome a safe and sound way for data transfers, especially the smaller ones, but a successful legal challenge of Privacy Shield would only mean new uncertainty. Therefore not many indicate today that they are prepared to sign up to the new framework when it is introduced. For its legal challenge is sure to follow quickly – Max Schrems, the privacy advocate who brought down Safe Harbor, said the only issue is to find the best weak spot.

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