Data protection and third countries
Letter to the Director General of the European Commission's Justice, Freedom and Security department on the Communication on "A Strategy on the External Dimension of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice"
The transfer of personal data outside of the EU is only allowed under certain conditions as set out in Directive 95/46/EC and also in the General Data Protection Regulation which will be fully applicable as of May 2018. If a country is deemed by the European Commission to offer an adequate level of protection, it will be subject to the same rules as an EU Member State, which means that the recipient of the data in that state will not be obliged to take specific measures to allow for the transfer. Transferring data to a country without an adequacy decision requires appropriate safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses or binding corporate rules. Derogations to this rule can be obtained in very specific cases. The European Data Protection Board, of which the EDPS is a member, will provide the Commission with Opinions on this subject.
Letter to the Director General of the European Commission's Justice, Freedom and Security department on the Communication on "A Strategy on the External Dimension of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice"
Opinion on the Proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion of an agreement between the European Community and the Government of Canada on the processing of Advance Passenger Information (API) / Passenger Name Record (PNR) data, OJ C 218, 6.9.2005, p. 6