While businesses cheered the news, Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems, whose campaign about the risk of U.S. intelligence agencies accessing Europeans' data in a long-running dispute with MetaU.S. President Joe Biden and European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said at a joint news conference in Brussels that the provisional agreement takes into account the court's concerns and offers stronger legal protections.
"This will enable predictable and trustworthy data flows between the EU and U.S., safeguarding privacy and civil liberties," she added, without elaborating. "First, the U.S. needs to prepare their executive order, and then we need to do our internal consultation in the Commission and within the European Data Protection Board," the official said, referring to the EU privacy watchdog."Legal certainty about data flows will spur innovation, growth, and job creation. This is a win-win-agreement for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic," said Markus J. Beyrer, director of lobbying group BusinessEurope.
Activist Schrems, however, said the lack of details was troubling and that if the United States was only offering executive reassurances instead of changing its surveillance laws, he would not hesitate to go to court again.
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