Every Year the International Bar Association hosts an Annual Conference; this year 2022 in Miami, FL. HÄRTING was represented by Marlene Schreiber, Niko Härting and Martin Schirmbacher.
#IBAMiami 2022
We finally had the opportunity again to meet with our international network of collegues and share our expertice. Marlene, Niko and I were in Miami at the Annual Conference of the International Bar Association. Topics included cybersecurity, IT-contracts and data protection in the work environment.– Martin Schirmbacher
Between October 30th and November 4th, the HÄRTING ‘delegation’ exchanged insights into new developments in law and practice with lawyers and experts from around the globe; including a round table session and a panel, both (co-)moderated by HÄRTING’s own Marlene Schreiber:
Round Table Session – Hot topics in Privacy and Data Protection
In this Round Table Session, moderated by Simone Lahorgue Nunes (Brasil) and Marlene Schreiber (Germany), the participants discussed the latest and hottest topics in Privacy and Data Protection.
In a short round of introductions, the participants exchanged information about the data protection regulations applicable in their respective countries and – given that an increasing number of the European GDPR-alike laws are being enacted all over the world – compared these with the GDPR.
Incidentally, the most current and therefore dominant topic of all sessions was cross-border data transfers, especially between the EU and USA. The moderators introduced the topic by giving participants a brief overview of the content of the Executive Order („Enhancing Safeguards for United States Signals Intelligence Activities”), issued by US-President Biden just 3 weeks before.
After the European Court of Justice (ECJ) invalidated the Privacy Shield (Schrems II decision) and ruled that the Privacy Shield does not guarantee protection equivalent to that under EU law, the US and Europe have made some effort to reach an agreement that justifies the adoption of an adequacy decision by the EU Commission.
After discussing the main content of the Executive Order, the participants evaluated the expected consequences of the Executive Order. Quite predominantly, the participants agreed that the Executive Order would have no immediate influence on the need of concluding Standard Contractual Clauses (if no other appropriate safeguards apply) and performing a Transfer Impact Assessment, before using US-service provider. The Executive Order is expected to most certainly lead to the adoption of an adequacy decision, but it will not keep Data protection and civil rights activists, like Max Schrems, to challenge the data transfer based on this. Presumably, once an adequacy decision is adopted, it will provide a calming of the situation, whether it will be a long-term solution remains to be seen.
Panel – New ways of working in person and remotely: risks and opportunities
Together with Professor Christopher Millard from Queen Mary University of London, Marlene Schreiber chaired a panel debating the significant changes in working practices catalyzed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The panel shed light especially on the potential of remote working for the future and the risks it might bring.