Negotiations were at a stalemate and running out of time. Officials from the European Union and America could not break through a couple roadblocks to forge an agreement to give legal cover for companies to transfer data across the Atlantic. The official January 31 deadline had already passed. […]
EU sources say the Americans didn’t use the Paris attacks to push the Europeans to back down on safe harbor.
And by all accounts the EU’s line also remained firm: Terrorists or no, Europeans’ right to privacy and the European Court of Justice’s ruling weren’t going anywhere. […]
The Judicial Redress Act finally passed the Judiciary Committee on January 28. But an amendment by Senator John Cornyn made the privacy protections in the bill conditional on the Europeans signing on to a new safe harbor deal. […]
The Article 29 Working Party met in Brussels on February 2 and 3 to discuss their next steps. With nothing on paper to look at, the DPAs adopted a wait-and-see approach. The Commission promised to deliver the full text of the agreement by the end of February. In late March, the authorities will meet again to decide if the shield is strong enough. […]
http://www.politico.eu/article/the-phone-call-that-saved-safe-harbor-john-kerry-frans-timmermans/