The ECJ must now hear and rule on a significant data privacy complaint regarding the transfer of EU citizens' personal information to the US. The complainant, a privacy activist, argues that the data is not sufficiently protected from United States' surveillance measures, since, according to US national regulations, US security authorities may require US companies to disclose personal information when necessary for national security reasons. In spite of this, EU users affected by these US regulations are not able to challenge the decision in court, as a result their personal data is at risk of being disclosed, possibly without further due diligence. The decision of the ECJ will not only affect the EU-US agreement "Privacy Shield", according to which US companies certify that they comply with EU privacy laws, but also impact data transfer to all third countries, where EU companies are currently transferring EU citizens' data, in line with "adequacy" decisions issued by the Commission.

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