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There is reason to question the independence of the Polish judiciary; over the past two years, Polish legislature has adopted more than 13 laws that arguably place the courts in the control of the ruling political majority.
Editor’s Note: Russia appears to be trying to undermine U.S. influence throughout Europe—and, unfortunately, Moscow appears to be succeeding. Although most eyes are on Ukraine and the Baltic states, the Balkans represent another potential flash point. Emily Holland of Columbia University and Rebecca Lissner of the Council on Foreign Relations argue that the Trump administration and the West in general have ignored the Balkans and call for the EU and the United States to step up aid and do much more in this region to avoid another crisis in Europe.
Digital commerce across the Atlantic is highly dependent on the free flow of data. And that, in turn, is dependent on the existence of roughly equivalent privacy protections on both sides of the Atlantic that provide legal, and practical, comfort to Europeans and Americans about the security and privacy of their personal information.
A January 2, 2017 commentary by Ariel Teshuva raises an intriguing question. While the European Commission is vested with the authority under Article 25(6) of the Data Protection Directive to issue data protection adequacy determinations—a declaration that a given jurisdiction outside the EU provides adequate legal protection for personal data—why have so few been adopted?
Data is a "magic material" that "is becoming the fuel for innovation,” says former European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes. But getting this “magic material” out of the EU is a complicated business. Under the EU Data Protection Directive (DPD or Directive 95/46/EC), a firm can move data out of the EU only if some EU legal mechanism authorizes it.
In late 2014, the General Court of the European Union (GC) annulled, on due process grounds, several measures that kept Hamas and the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) on the EU terrorism sanctions list.
Not a Drop to Share
Last week, Google announced it was appealing the French data authority’s decision to fine Google for refusing to delete links globally. With the right to be forgotten (RTBF) debate thus back in the news, this post takes the opportunity to map the lay of the land to date.
The Extraterritoriality Dispute
The deal between the EU and Turkey to manage the flow of refugees from Syria, made public at the end of the European Council meeting on March 18, has big potential benefits for both the EU and Turkey. But it has big costs as well. If successful, it will stem the tide of refugees, help prevent the collapse of the Greek state, allow the EU to start healing its own wounds and prepare the ground for a more orderly placement and distribution of the refugees.
A PRC surveillance vessel crusies next to Japan Coast Guard patrol ships near the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands (Photo: Kyodo)