The Safe Harbour agreement established in 2000 between the European Union and the United States aimed to provide a single set of data protection requirements to allow the transfer of EU citizens’ data to the U.S., thus facilitating trade and exchange. However, the agreement has been quite controversial, with concerns being raised over data and privacy, not least by the European Court of Justice (EUCJ) ruling in October 2015. As flows of data have become an essential part of global economic exchange, the EU and U.S. have been working to establish a revised framework that is able to effectively address these concerns while maintaining data flows.

In this context, the European Policy Centre (EPC) organised this Policy Briefing Chaired by Fabian Zuleeg, EPC Chief Executive, with three members of the Chief U.S. negotiating team who gave an update on discussions with the European Commission over the agreement, before answering questions from the audience.