New US rules – a step closer to EU-US data protection agreement

Following US President Barack Obama signature of Judicial Redress Act on 24 February, which gives European citizens a right to protect their privacy rights in US courts, David McAlister (EPP, DE), Chairman of EP’s Delegation for relations with the United States, issued the following statement:

„The signing into law of the Judicial Redress Act is a path-breaking moment which shows that our common values prevail over our differences.

This will facilitate the way for other agreements – most importantly the EU-US Data Protection Umbrella Agreement – thus responding to the needs of our citizens for clarity, predictability and legal redress. European citizens needed to have procedural privacy protections similar to those offered to US citizens in Europe – and the Judicial Redress Act is a major step in that direction. We are on an excellent path for the protection of data, both for law enforcement and commercial purposes.

I personally congratulate Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, who led this piece of legislation through the House and others like Senator Chris Murphy and Senator Orrin Hatch who championed the bill in the Senate. Our Delegation has met with these leaders and will continue to do so inside the Transatlantic Legislators Dialogue between the European Parliament and US Congress. This shows that working together as legislators we can achieve great things.“