Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has issued the following statement regarding the signing today by President Biden of an Executive Order on “Enhancing Safeguards for United States Signals Intelligence Activities”:

“Today, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Enhancing Safeguards for United States Signals Intelligence Activities, which implements the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF) announced by President Biden and President von der Leyen in March 2022.  The EU-U.S. DPF represents the culmination of joint efforts by the United States and the European Commission to restore trust and stability to trans-Atlantic data flows and reflects the strength of the enduring U.S.-EU relationship based on our shared values.

“The EU-U.S. DPF includes robust commitments strengthening the safeguards for U.S. signals intelligence activities, which will ensure the privacy of EU personal data and create a new mechanism for EU individuals to seek redress if they believe they are unlawfully targeted by such activities. The EU-U.S. DPF also provides a durable and reliable legal foundation for the trans-Atlantic data flows that underpin more than $1 trillion in cross-border trade and investment per year and create greater economic opportunities for companies and citizens on both sides of the Atlantic.

“These commitments fully address the Court of Justice of the European Union’s 2020 Schrems II decision and will cover personal data transfers to the United States under EU law, including those using Standard Contractual Clauses, Binding Corporate Rules, or a future adequacy decision for the EU-U.S. DPF.

“The EU-U.S. DPF will also update the privacy principles that companies adhere to under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and rename them as the “EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles”.  The EU-U.S. DPF will also restore an accessible and affordable data transfer mechanism for participating U.S. companies.  The U.S. Department of Commerce will work with current Privacy Shield participants, 70% of which are small and medium enterprises, to facilitate the transition to the updated privacy principles under the EU-U.S. DPF.

“Following the issuance of the Executive Order, I will transmit to European Commissioner for Justice Reynders a series of letters from relevant U.S. government agencies and documents outlining the operation and enforcement of the EU-U.S. DPF.

“The strengthened safeguards for signals intelligence, the new redress mechanism and updated privacy principles, will form the basis for the European Commission’s assessment in a new adequacy decision for the EU-U.S. DPF.”