The European Commission (EC) resolved a dispute over sharing people’s data with authorities in the US, approving a new framework enabling companies including Meta Platforms and Google to do so without additional safeguards.

Its decision enables companies to sign up for a Data Privacy Framework finalised yesterday (10 July) and so put to rest bickering over how US intelligence agencies could gather data about people in the European Union.

The framework gives Europeans the ability to appeal if they believe their personal information was collected improperly by US intelligence agencies.

Appeals will be heard by a panel of US judges, who will have the power to order data to be deleted if it is considered to breach the framework, The New York Times reported.

EC President Ursula von der Leyen stated she worked with US President Joe Biden on an agreement in principle for the framework in 2022, which she stated reflected “unprecedented commitments” by the US to ensure safe data flows for Europeans.

A previous EU-US privacy agreement was struck down in 2020 by the European Court of Justice due to insufficient privacy protections for European citizens.

The EC’s decision came a week after US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo stated the nation had fulfilled its commitments for implementing the framework.