Washington D.C., September 21, 2021—The U.S. Council for International Business (USCIB), a cross-sectoral trade association of companies active in transatlantic business, welcomes the cooperative spirit underlying the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC), which will be formally launched on September 29 in Pittsburgh, PA.
The TTC’s aims to grow bilateral trade and investment, strengthen global cooperation on technology and digital issues, boost innovation, collaborate on supply chain resilience, and realize greater regulatory interoperability, among other goals set forth in the July 15 EU-U.S. Summit communique, all of which are critical to fully reaping the economic and social welfare benefits of digital transformation.
Achieving the TTC goals, however, will be difficult unless a new agreement establishing a durable legal basis and privacy protections for transatlantic data flows is concluded as soon as possible. This accord is essential to the U.S.-EU economic and diplomatic partnerships and, importantly, will enable innumerable gains to be realized under the TTC process.
As USCIB and some twenty-two U.S. and EU business groups underscored in a July 14 letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, thousands of EU and U.S. companies continue to be harmed by the resulting legal uncertainty for transatlantic data transfers stemming from EU Court of Justice invalidation of Privacy Shield Framework in July 2020. Differing interpretations of the Court ruling risk triggering additional compliance and operational challenges as well as limit opportunities for EU businesses to grow and innovate internationally.
USCIB therefore urges timely conclusion of a sustainable framework for secure transatlantic data flows in the coming weeks. This will provide the necessary foundation upon which the TTC can effectively realize its goals, while ensuring that U.S. and EU companies active in the transatlantic commercial space can thrive again. We look forward to positive news from the U.S. and European Commission soon.
About USCIB
USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development, and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world. As the U.S. affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and Business at OECD (BIAC), USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More at www.uscib.org
