The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has announced that it will release its decision in the ‘safe harbour’ case on 06 October, less than a couple of weeks after the ECJ’s advocate-general published a non-binding recommendation that the long-standing agreement on data transfer between the EU and US should be invalidated. The decision to expedite the announcement of the ECJ’s final judgment suggests the court is aware of the importance of the ruling for a large number of companies who rely on ‘safe harbour’ for their EU-to-US data transfers. “Whilst it is possible… it is not normal to only take two weeks from opinion to decision,” said ECJ spokesman Christopher Fretwell, according to the Wall Street Journal. He added that it usually takes between three and six months from a court adviser’s opinion until a decision is published.
The ECJ’s advocate-general Yves Bot said last week that the ‘safe harbour’ deal should be invalidated “because the surveillance carried out by the US is mass, indiscriminate surveillance,” leaving the data of European citizens unprotected in the US. While the US has long enjoyed safe harbour status, the ECJ was asked to rule on the agreement after an Austrian citizen, Maximillian Scherms, questioned whether it remains valid following the revelations of widespread US spying from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
