On February 15, 2024 the Irish High Court authorized Max Schrems to participate in Meta’s challenge to the DPC’s data transfers suspension decision. This could lead to a new referral of the case to the CJEU and to Schrems III. In light of the expected legal challenges to the Data Privacy Framework, it is vital to move past slogans and summary discussions of the key issues, to add academic, theoretical, and informed legal perspectives to the public discussions. In its Schrems II decision, the CJEU found two flaws in protections of personal data, the lack of an effective redress remedy and a failure by the U.S. intelligence agencies to respect the principle of proportionality in relation with access to personal data by such agencies. The European Commission considered that the recent reforms operated by the US Government permitted to fix the issues raised by the CJEU, and adopted a new adequacy decision in July 2023. This panel will examine the EU/U.S. Data Privacy Framework, and present expert views on both issues. The panel will focus on the main reforms operated by the US in 2022-2023 and will try to assess if the new adequacy decision could pass, this time, the CJEU test. With robust yet respectful debate, this panel can help sharpen the dialogue to assist in clarifying points of both agreement and disagreement.
