A recent press release states, “Today the European Commission publishes its report on the second annual review of the functioning of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield. This year’s report shows that the U.S. continues to ensure an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred under the Privacy Shield from the EU to participating companies in the U.S. The steps taken by the U.S. authorities to implement the recommendations made by the Commission in last year’s report have improved the functioning of the framework. However, the Commission does expect the US authorities to nominate a permanent Ombudsperson by 28 February 2019 to replace the one that is currently acting.  The Ombudsperson is an important mechanism that ensures complaints concerning access to personal data by U.S. authorities are addressed.”

The release goes on, “Andrus Ansip, Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, said: ‘Today’s review shows that the Privacy Shield is generally a success. More than 3,850 companies have been certified, including companies like Google, Microsoft and IBM – along with many SMEs. This provides an operational ground to continuously improve and strengthen the way the Privacy Shield works. We now expect our American partners to nominate the Ombudsperson on a permanent basis, so we can make sure that our EU-US relations in data protection are fully trustworthy’.”

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