European Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli released an opinion on an agreement between the EU and U.S. on cross-border access to electronic evidence. The EDPS released the opinion in response to the European Commission’s adoption of a recommendation to start negotiations with the U.S. on electronic evidence access for criminal investigations. Buttarelli wrote he supports the commission’s assessment that the EU “has an interest in a comprehensive agreement with the U.S., both from the perspective of protecting European rights and values such as privacy and personal data protection, and from the perspective of our own security interests.” Buttarelli added the Umbrella Agreement, which provides a minimum level of safeguards for data transferred to U.S. law enforcement, should be included in the negotiations.
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