EU-US Safe Harbor Pact. European court invalidates EU-US Safe Harbor pact - by Peter Sayer

The Safe Harbor agreement on which many businesses rely for the transatlantic transfer of personal data is invalid, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled

While the decision will affect companies like Facebook and Google, it is bad news for small and medium-size companies transferring data from the EU to the U.S., said Mike Weston, CEO of data science consultancy Profusion.

"American companies are going to have to restructure how they manage, store and use data in Europe and this will take a lot of time and money," he said.

The CJEU  provided a summary of the ruling, the full text of which will be published later.

Note EU-Digest: Good move - but the obvious question is what will the US do with all the information they have already collected about and on EU Citizens ?

Read more: European court invalidates EU-US Safe Harbor pact | Computerworld

European Banking Industry: EU Court of Justice rejects the UK's challenge to its cap on bankers' bonuses

The Advocate General of the EU Court of Justice has rejected the UK's challenge to its cap on bankers' bonuses.

The cap restricts bonuses to 100% of banker's pay or 200% with shareholder approval.

Advocate General Niilo Jääskinen gave an opinion that the EU legislation limiting the ratio was valid.

The cap on the ratio is designed to reduce incentives for bankers to take excessive risks but critics say it will push up basic pay and banks' costs.

The UK government challenged the legislation asking the Court of Justice in Luxembourg to consider six arguments challenging both the scope and the legal basis for the new rules.

Advocate General Jääskinen said: "Fixing the ratio of variable remuneration to basic salaries does not equate to a 'cap on bankers bonuses', or fixing the level of pay, because there is no limit imposed on the basic salaries that the bonuses are pegged against."

Read more: BBC News - Blow to UK's bankers' bonus cap challenge

EU Privacy Laws: Google starts data erasure in Europe

Google started implementing a controversial data erasure provision for Europeans on Thursday, giving users the opportunity to apply to have their names removed from the results of some searches.

The development followed a European Court of Justice ruling that upheld an individual's "right to be forgotten" by deleting links to personal information that is outdated or inaccurate. About 90 percent of all web searches in Europe are through Google.

An online form is now available on Google sites in EU countries that gives users the opportunity to submit a request to have information removed. The form asks for identification and which links should be deleted and why.

Read more: Google starts data erasure in Europe | Business | DW.DE | 30.05.2014

The Netherlands: EU Pensions Commission refers The Netherlands to Court for discriminating against Dutch pensioners abroad

The European Commission has referred The Netherlands to the EU's Court of Justice for failing to notify measures to stop discriminating against pensioners who live abroad when paying out an allowance for elderly taxpayers. This results from a discriminatory condition under Dutch law for entitlement to the 'koopkrachttegemoetkoming oudere belastingplichtigen' (purchasing power allowance for elderly taxpayers).

Dutch legislation which entered into force on 1 June 2011 provides that the allowance is paid to persons aged 65 years and above who can show that at least 90% of their world income is taxable in The Netherlands. This condition means that in practice the allowance is not granted to people living outside The Netherlands. The Commission has received a large number of complaints from citizens.

Under EU law on social security coordination, entitlement to an old age benefit cannot be conditional on the pensioner living in the Member State where he or she claims the benefit. This rule enables pensioners to move to another Member State when they retire whilst retaining their pension.

As the purchasing power allowance is paid to people 65 years of above, which coincides with retirement age in The Netherlands, the allowance is classed as an old-age benefit under EU social security coordination rules as interpreted by the EU's Court of Justice. So, even if national law does not class it as such, it is an old age benefit according to EU lawand The Netherlands is required to pay the allowance to recipients of a Dutch statutory old-age pension who live in another EU Member State, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland.

The national law in question was adopted against advice to the contrary from the Dutch Council of State (Raad van State) which cautioned that the approach chosen by The Netherlands was not in line with its obligations under EU law. The Commission also advised the Dutch Government early on in the legislative process that the proposed national law would be incompatible with EU law. In the meantime, national courts have also considered the discriminatory conditions for entitlement to the allowance as contrary to EU law.

The Commission requested The Netherlands to end discriminating against pensioners living abroad in May 2012 (see IP/12/526) but no measures to end the discrimination have been notified to the Commission.

EU-Digest