This Briefing offered the US perspective of the regulatory developments contained within the US-EU Privacy Shield Agreement, a new framework for transatlantic data flows. Commissioner of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Maureen Ohlhausen explained how the Privacy Shield aims to create a balance between the commercial interests and the likely positive impact of data sharing on economic growth on the one hand, and the need to prevent the misuse of data and provide citizens with adequate protection when it comes to the collection and use of their data for commercial purposes on the other. The Privacy Shield Agreement, unveiled on 29 February 2016, comes after the European Court of Justice Judgement of 6 October 2015, which declared the European Commission’s and the US’ Safe Harbour Agreement on data protection and data transfers to be invalid. If ratified, it will provide the legal groundworks for companies to transfer personal data from the EU to the United States. FTC Commissioner Ohlhausen also commented on the press statement by the Article 29 Working Party that was released earlier that day.