Three big IT companies Microsoft, Google and Salesforce have officially adopted the EU-US Privacy Shield framework.
It enables them to receive personal data from the European Union (EU) in compliance with the new standards.
The European Commission adopted the Privacy Shield in July 2016 to facilitate the transfer of personal data from the EU to the US.
Privacy Shield is a voluntary scheme, whereby companies promise to treat European citizens’ personal data in compliance with European Union data rules. Those pledges are then enforced by the US Department of Commerce.
The arrangement was necessary because the US does not meet the data protection standards required by Europe. The European Court of Justice annulled the previous law in October 2015.
Since its introduction in 2000, the previous agreement had come to be relied on by 4,400 businesses, including internet giants such as Facebook, Google and Amazon.
They are now among the 103 companies — out of the 5,526 signatories — that have so far signed up to replace the defunct Safe Harbour framework.