Dive Brief:

• An adviser to the European Union's top court says the Safe Harbour agreement is invalid, Reuters reports.
• The agreement eases the transfer of data between the United States and the EU and is used by thousands of companies.
• The United States and the EU have been in talks to strengthen the agreement’s framework for two years.

Dive Insight:

Yves Bot, advocate general at the European Court of Justice, said the Safe Harbour agreement does not do enough to protect EU citizen’s private data when it reaches the U.S. Bot's opinions are often followed by the court's judges.

The case stems from a complaint filed against Facebook claiming that the company helped the National Security Agency harvest the private data of EU citizens.

"We are concerned about the potential disruption to international data flows if the Court follows today's opinion," said John Higgins, director general of DIGITALEUROPE, whose members include Apple, Cisco, Ericsson and Google.

Data transfers to third countries could be suspended if officials agree that EU citizens' privacy was compromised. That would cause significant disruption for U.S. companies that operate in the EU. Tech companies widely support the Safe Harbour agreement, saying it helps them transfer important data, such as payroll and human resources information, much more easily.