'Robust' deal reached to preserve privacy of EU-US data sharing

EU-US Privacy Shield 'safe harbour' comes with assurances against US mass surveillance and the protection of EU citizens' data

Europe and the US have reached a new "robust" deal over data sharing that will ensure the safety of EU citizens' data when transferred across the Atlantic by firms such as Facebook, Apple and Google.

The new EU-US privacy shield will allow companies to transfer and process EU citizens' data in the US given certain privacy guarantees. It comes after the original data-sharing safe harbour agreement from 2000 used by 4,500 companies was struck down in October by the European court of justice, following legal action by an Austrian privacy campaigner following the Snowden revelations of mass US government surveillance.