Privacy Shield
the General Court
The Exegetes are bringing before the European Court of Justice/General Court the deal between the European Commission and the United States government which establishes that US laws grant a sufficient level of personal data protection, despite the massive surveillance powers of NSA and others...
Legal proceedings
The "Privacy Shield" is an agreement between the European Commission and the United States government, negotiated after the previous agreement ("Safe Harbor") was repealed by the European Court of Justice ruling "Schrems". This procedure aims to invalidate the Commission's decision, directly before the General Court. It is therefore an unprecedented way to seek remedy as it may have been allowed by the Lisbon Treaty of 2009. It that sense, being deemed as having standing is in itself a crucial stake of the case. This point has not been settled by the EU judges yet and it may very well only be settled when the ruling will be published.
Our proceedings have seen a plethora of interventions:
- By our side: UFC Que Choisir, the main French consumer organisation;
- By the Commission's side: Germany, UK, Czech Republic, Netherlands, France, USA, Microsoft, Business Software Alliance and Digital Europe.
To bear in mind: There used to be a parallel case done by Digital Right Ireland. It is not the case anymore.
Briefs and rulings
- November 17, 2016: Application instituting proceedings before the General Court of the European Union (regularized) [FR]
- December 19, 2016: Intervention in Digital Rights Ireland [EN]
- February 20 2017: Brief in support of the UFC Que Choisir's request for leave to intervene [FR]
- March 14 2017: Reply to the European Commission on the standing of the three organisations we (the Exegetes) write for: La Quadrature du Net, French Data Network (FDN) and the Fédération of non-profit ISPs [FR]
- July 17 2017: Order of the General Court to associate the ruling on standing and the ruling on the merits [FR]
- December 29 2017: Reply to the European Commission on the merits [FR] --- ACLU report associated with our reply [EN]
Links, blogs and press releases:
Picture credit:Nahyn, thank you!