In a short statement following the EU-US summit held in Brussels earlier this week, Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, announced on March 27, 2014, that the United States and the European Union have agreed to take steps to address concerns caused by last year’s revelations on the USA NSA surveillance programs, and restore trust.
He indicated that, with respect to commercial use of personal data, the United States “have agreed to a review of the so-called Safe Harbour framework” to ensure transparency and legal certainty. In addition, with respect to government access to personal data, the parties will “negotiate an umbrella agreement on data protection by this summer, based on equal treatment of EU and US citizens.”
The full text of Mr. Van Rampuy’s statement is available at http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/141919.pdf