July 7, 2016

Ms Věra Jourová

Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality

European Commission

Rue de la Loi/Westraat 200

1049 Brussels Belgium

Dear Commissioner Jourová:

On behalf of the United States, I am pleased to transmit herewith a package of EU-U.S. Privacy Shield materials that is the product of two years of productive discussions among our teams. This package, along with other materials available to the Commission from public sources, provides a very strong basis for a new adequacy finding by the European Commission[1].

We should both be proud of the improvements to the Framework. The Privacy Shield is based on Principles that have strong consensus support on both sides of the Atlantic, and we have strengthened their operation. Through our work together, we have the real opportunity to improve the protection of privacy around the world.

The Privacy Shield Package includes the Privacy Shield Principles, along with a letter, attached as Annex 1, from the International Trade Administration (ITA) of the Department of Commerce, which administers the program, describing the commitments that our Department has made to ensure that the Privacy Shield operates effectively. The Package also includes Annex 2, which includes other Department of Commerce commitments relating to the new arbitral model available under the Privacy Shield.

I have directed my staff to devote all necessary resources to implement the Privacy Shield Framework expeditiously and fully and to ensure the commitments in Annex 1 and Annex 2 are met in a timely fashion.

The Privacy Shield Package also includes other documents from other United States agencies, namely:

A letter from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) describing its enforcement of the Privacy Shield;
A letter from the Department of Transportation describing its enforcement of the Privacy Shield;
Two letters prepared by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) regarding safeguards and limitations applicable to U.S. national security authorities;
A letter from the Department of State and accompanying memorandum describing the State Department’s commitment to establish a new Privacy Shield Ombudsperson for submission of inquiries regarding the United States’ signals intelligence practices; and
A letter prepared by the Department of Justice regarding safeguards and limitations on U.S. Government access for law enforcement and public interest purposes.

You can be assured that the United States takes these commitments seriously.

Within 30 days of final approval of the adequacy determination, the full Privacy Shield Package will be delivered to the Federal Register for publication.

We look forward to working with you as the Privacy Shield is implemented and as we embark on the next phase of this process together.

Sincerely,

Penny Pritzker

[1] Provided that the Commission Decision on the adequacy of the protection provided by the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield applies to Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, the Privacy Shield Package will cover both the European Union, as well as these three countries.