Following the EU Court of Justice’s Schrems II decision relating to EU-US data transfers, and in light of the new EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), all businesses need to undertake a data transfer impact assessment before transferring personal data outside the EU.

Reed Smith’s data transfer tool can be used to cover onward transfers between non-EU organizations that must comply with the SCCs, as well. Many businesses will have to change their contractual arrangements with customers, suppliers and affiliates to ensure compliance with the new rules. The deadline to change to the new SCCs is Dec. 27, 2022.

Reed Smith’s DaTA Transfer Pathway provides an automated value-driven legal solution. It is a user-friendly web solution application that automates the generation of data transfer assessment reports and SCCs in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation.

By guiding the user through a step-by-step series of questions, DaTA Transfer Pathway is able to:

• Navigate complex data-sharing scenarios; for example, where several service providers are involved — either in Europe or outside of it
• Conduct an data transfer assessment for the user (as required under Clause 14 of the SCCs), identifying the supplementary measures which can then be included in the data transfer tools
• Build an optional data transfer agreement the SCCs automatically generate the required modules, with the annexes automatically populated from the answers to the data transfer assessment

The tool can be used not just by legal or data protection staff, but also by non-legal staff; for example, procurement or marketing teams.

Cynthia O’Donoghue, London based partner at Reed Smith, said: “The Schrems II ruling combined with the new EU-Standard Contractual Clauses has a far reaching impact for all businesses that are transferring personal data outside of the EU. Given the requirements to conduct a data transfer assessment and to repaper the old SCCs for the new within a very short timeframe, we created DaTA Transfer Pathway to make the process fast and easy for our clients.”

Andreas Splittgerber, Munich based partner at Reed Smith, said: “We very pleased to be able to offer our clients this user friendly and effective tool to help them navigate the latest update to the EU’s data transfer rules.”

A group of the firm’s lawyers and members of its innovation team worked together to develop DaTA Transfer Pathway. The group includes members of the team that was highly commended at the 2020 Legal Week Awards for creating a custom data privacy assessment solution built in collaboration with the firm’s client Hershey.