The CLOUD Act and Transatlantic Trust

• Published in: Policy File 2023
• Main Authors: Wood, Georgia, Lewis, James Andrew
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Subjects: Center for Strategic and International Studies; Privacy

The United States and European Union are at a transitional moment in their transatlantic digital relationship. This transition affects the future of the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act, a piece of U.S. legislation that aims to provide timely access to electronic evidence (e-evidence). Despite past disputes over data privacy and surveillance, both sides have found common groundthe EU.S. Data Privacy Framework and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)'s Declaration on Government Access to Personal Data held by Private Sector Entitiescreated a forum for cooperation in digital trade through the Trade and Technology Council (TTC). Getting to this point, however, involved a complicated process, and despite real progress, the story is not yet over. The United States and the European Union are each other's top trading partners. The transatlantic and data transfer relationship creates a $7.1 trillion economic relationship, so this is not a minor problem. All sides want to find solutions that permit digital trade to continue and that streamline the evidentiary process needed for law enforcement in the digital age. This white paper looks at the tensions between the desire for timely law enforcement access to evidence, European concerns over digital sovereignty, and the mutual desire for a strengthened transatlantic relationship. The nature of cloud services means that data is often stored on one or several servers outside of a user's borders as well as outside of the country where a company's headquarters may be located. This makes economic sense but raises legal questions when governments wish to access electronic evidence that is stored outside of their jurisdiction for an investigation.