WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) will attend a bill signing ceremony at the White House this afternoon where President Obama will sign his Judicial Redress Act of 2015 into law. Murphy’s bipartisan Judicial Redress Act will promote increased law enforcement cooperation and boost transatlantic relations by extending core benefits of the Privacy Act of 1974 to citizens of major U.S. allies – similar to the benefits already afforded to U.S. citizens overseas. The Judicial Redress Act will help further two critical information sharing agreements with Europe – one that allows law enforcement to share data from country to country, and one that allows for U.S. technology companies to continue to do business in Europe. 

“We can finally begin to put back together the critical U.S.-EU law enforcement and data sharing protocols we rely on to keep Americans safe,” said Murphy. “Each day that Congress delayed passing the Judicial Redress Act was another day closer to catastrophe for our national security and American technology companies who do business abroad. I’m relieved that Congress finally passed this important bill and I am honored to stand next to the President as he signs it into law.”

Last year, U.S. and European Union negotiators agreed upon an Umbrella Agreement to facilitate the sharing of critical law enforcement information, but its implementation has been contingent on passage into law of the Judicial Redress Act. The Judicial Redress Act is also important for U.S. businesses, following last year’s ruling by the European Court of Justice to strike down the Safe Harbor agreement that governed commercial data flows due to the lack of privacy protections for E.U. citizens.

The Judicial Redress Act was introduced in the Senate by Murphy and U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and Congressmen Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and John Conyers (D-Mich.) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and is supported by the White House, U.S. Department of Justice, and U.S. federal law enforcement agencies. The legislation has been endorsed by numerous organizations and associations, including The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Application Developers Alliance, BSA, The Software Alliance Computer & Communications Industry Association, Information Technology Industry Council, Internet Association, Software & Information Industry Association, the Trans Atlantic Business Council, IBM, Facebook, Foursquare, Google, Intuit, Microsoft, and Yahoo.