EU-US data-sharing

BRUSSELS: A EU-US commercial data-sharing deal faces a major test on Wednesday when an adviser to the EU’s top court will say whether he believes it is still binding in light of allegations of mass US spying. The case stems from a complaint filed by 27-year-old Austrian law student Max Schrems against Facebook with Irish data protection commissioner, who monitors compliance with privacy laws. Schrems argued the firm helped the US National Security Agency (NSA) harvest e-mail and other private data from European citizens by forwarding data to servers in the US and asked the Irish watchdog to investigate whether the US was providing adequate data protection.