European Institute

On March 18, 2015, The European Institute, in cooperation with the European Parliament Liaison Office with the U.S. Congress, held a discussion on data protection and privacy with The Honorable Jan Philipp Albrecht, Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and Rapporteur for the Data Protection Regulation and the Umbrella Agreement and The Honorable Cameron Kerry, Senior Counsel at Sidley Austin LLP and former General Counsel and Acting Secretary of the U..S Department of Commerce. Mr. Albrecht underlined that expectations on data privacy in the EU and U.S. are the same, but the main difference lies in their respective legal approaches. Mr. Albrecht encouraged a more active participation from the U.S. Congress on the issue of transatlantic data exchange, especially pertaining to data of suspects and “risky persons.” Mr. Kerry highlighted the need for the EU and U.S. to focus on common ground to move forward on the EU-U.S. Data Protection Umbrella Agreement and Safe Harbor provisions, as security and civil liberties are embedded in both the values of the EU and the U.S.