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New Data Transfer Deal Eases Google Analytics Legality Concerns

Last month, the French data privacy regulatory body, CNIL and Austrian Data Protection Authority ruled EU-US data transfers to Google Analytics as illegitimate after the invalidation of the Privacy Shield.

This potentially made the use of tools involving cross-border data transfers non-compliant with GDPR, leading to questions around the legality of using Google Analytics.

As a consequence of these rulings, businesses would have had to use alternative visitor analytics programmes and would not have been legally able to transfer personal (and essential) data unless they used alternative mechanisms.

A new agreement to replace Privacy Shield and accommodate Analytics has been eagerly awaited. The good news is the EU and US have agreed on a new data transfer deal, which should reassure companies bound by GDPR on the legality of tracking users via Google Analytics.

The Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework announced this week looks promising and should allow European businesses to continue cross-border data transfers.  If this agreement in principle goes ahead, it could expand the use of GA4, which doesn’t store user IP data.

The White House has released a fact sheet, which outlines their agreement in principle. It’s important for marketeers to understand how this new agreement might affect their usage of analytics programs and for businesses to ensure they are continuing to be GDPR compliant as this agreement is established.

If this agreement in principle goes ahead, it could expand the use of GA4, which does not store user IP addresses.

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