The European Commission has published Q&A on Standard Contractual Clauses

The European Commission has published Questions and Answers (Q&A) on standard contractual clauses for data transfers under the Regulation 2016/679, (General Data Protection Regulation- GDPR).

The model contract clauses (i.e. standard contractual clauses) that ensure appropriate data protection safeguards can be used as a ground for data transfers from the EU to third countries and were issued by the European Commission. On 4/6/2021, the Commission issued modernized standard contractual clauses under GDPR in order to replace the set of standard clauses that were issued and used under the previous Data Protection regime, the Directive 95/46.

Controllers and processors will be able to use and rely on the previous standard clauses only until 27 December 2022, provided that the processing operations that are the subject matter of the contract remain unchanged. After that period or for new processing activities, the use of the earlier standard clauses will not be possible.

The Commission developed a Q&A based on feedback received from various parties and aimed to provide practical guidance on the use of the clauses and assist stakeholders in their efforts to comply with GDPR. As the Commission stated “The Q&As are intended to be a ‘dynamic’ source of information and will be updated as new questions arise.”