International data transfer: Transition period for old standard contractual clauses ends on 27 December 2022 - companies urgently need to review their contracts

Following the “Schrems II” decision of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) of 16 July 2020, the European Commission adopted new standard contractual clauses for the transfer of international data on 4 June 2021.

The new standard contractual clauses have replaced the standard contractual clauses for controllers from 2001 and the standard contractual clauses for processors from 2010, which had applied up until such time.

The Commission’s Implementing Decision on new standard contractual clauses, which came into force on 27 June 2021, provides for a three-month transition period during which companies were able to continue agreeing the previous standard contractual clauses. Thus, since 27 September 2021, companies have been permitted to use only the new standard contractual clauses for new contracts. The Commission’s decision also provides for an additional transition period of a further 15 months, during which old standard contractual clauses that have already been agreed will continue to apply under certain conditions. This transition period will end on 27 December 2022.

We therefore strongly recommend that companies review their existing contracts with their service providers and other business partners as soon as possible in order to verify whether they still contain old standard contractual clauses. Since the transition period for the change to the new standard contractual clauses will end soon, companies would be well advised to quickly take the steps needed to update their old contracts that are affected.