The EU’s top court has struck down a 15-year-old agreement that allowed technology companies such as Facebook and Apple to move customer data from Europe to the U.S. In a decision released Tuesday, the European Court of Justice ruled that the Safe Harbor arrangement, which allows U.S. companies to work around EU data security laws by certifying their own protections, is invalid. It does not remove or reduce the need for authorities in member states to check on the protection given to that data, the court found. The case was heard after a complaint by an Austrian citizen, Maximillian Schrems, to the Irish data watchdog, in which he said the activities of the National Security Agency mean his Facebook data was not adequately shielded from surveillance. The ECJ ruling means customer data should not be transferred to the U.S. on the basis of companies’ self-certification, which could impact the thousands of U.S. businesses making use of the Safe Harbor system.
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