ORG’S REACTION TO SCHREMS II JUDGEMENT: BREXIT UK MUST ‘LEVEL UP’ NOT RACE TO BOTTOM

EU PUSHING FOR HIGH STANDARDS, UK MUST FOLLOW

Jim Killock, Executive Director of Open Rights Group said:

“Schrems II means that the UK must choose either high standards with Europe, or a race to the bottom accepting low standards with the USA. Invalidating Privacy Shield means Europe has drawn a line in the sand. The EU is placing fundamental rights at the centre of trade relationships.

“The UK’s surveillance regime will be questioned after this judgment, as Europe has rejected Privacy Shield precisely because of concerns over surveillance. Similarly, ‘standard contractual clauses’ on their own cannot now be relied on, and there must be a verification of the laws in a third party country to ensure compliance with EU standards as companies may not be able to honour their contractual terms against the laws of the country in which the transfer takes place.

“The UK already faces challenges persuading Europe that we are serious about privacy. This judgment makes it clear that we face a stark choice between high and low standards.”

ENDS

Contact

Jim Killock press@openrightsgroup.org

Notes:

The press release on the Schrems from the Court of Justice of the European Union setting out the judgement can be found here: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2020-07/cp200091en.pdf