European Union privacy regulators are reviewing an order that would block Facebook from sending European user data to the U.S., raising pressure on American and European negotiators to complete a recent data-transfer deal that could help thousands of companies sidestep disruption.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission on Thursday sent its EU counterparts a long-awaited draft decision that would—if approved—order
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Facebook and Instagram to suspend the transfers. The draft decision comes nearly two years after the regulator first warned Facebook it might do it, leading to court wrangling over the procedure.
The draft order stems from a 2020 decision from the EU’s highest court, the Court of Justice, which put tough conditions on how companies could send European personal information to be stored in the U.S., saying that Europeans had no effective way to challenge American government surveillance.
Thursday’s circulation of the decision raises the stakes for U.S. and EU negotiators to complete a deal that would safeguard transfers of personal information from the EU to the U.S., in part by granting Europeans new rights to appeal surveillance. That deal in principle must still be implemented by the U.S. and approved by the EU’s executive arm to become official.
While Thursday’s decision concerns Facebook, thousands of businesses use similar legal provisions to transfer data, making the deal important for them to use U.S.-based data centers to do things like sell online ads, measure their website traffic or manage company payroll in Europe.
Privacy lawyers and experts say orders like Ireland’s would likely be pre-empted or delayed by the new EU-U.S. agreement—at least until a new court battle is fought—because the new framework addresses the same concerns that the EU court raised in 2020.
Even if there is no deal before Ireland issues its order, Facebook could appeal it in court, a process that could take months or years to play out, effectively keeping its data flows running. The company has repeatedly warned in securities filings that should it lose the ability to store data in the U.S., it might no longer be able to offer some of its services in Europe.
A Facebook spokesman Thursday said the company expects the new EU-U.S. data deal is in the process of finalization. “This draft decision, which is subject to review by European Data Protection Authorities, relates to a conflict of EU and U.S. law which is in the process of being resolved,” he said.
Ireland’s draft decision will be reviewed by other privacy regulators in the EU under power-sharing provisions of the bloc’s privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation. If they agree on the order, it could become effective as soon as September. In the case of disputes, the process could stretch until next year.
Ireland’s issuing of its draft decision Thursday was first reported by Politico.
Write to Sam Schechner at [email protected]
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