Europe's highest court has ruled in favor of Max Schrems, left, who claimed a trans-Atlantic data protection agreement doesn't adequately protect consumers. Photo by Geert Vanden Wijngaert
Europe's highest court has ruled in favor of Max Schrems, left, who claimed a trans-Atlantic data protection agreement doesn't adequately protect consumers. Photo by Geert Vanden Wijngaert

Europe’s highest court backs student in Facebook privacy case



LUXEMBOURG // The European Union’s highest court ruled Tuesday in favour of an Austrian law student who claims a trans-Atlantic data protection agreement does not adequately protect consumers, a verdict that could have far-reaching implications for technology companies doing business in Europe.

Max Schrems, a student, launched the case following revelations two years ago by the former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden about the NSA’s surveillance programmes.

Mr Schrems complained to the data protection commissioner in Ireland, where Facebook has its European headquarters, that US law does not offer sufficient protection against surveillance of data transferred by the social media company to servers in the United States.

Irish authorities initially rejected his complaint, pointing to a 2000 decision by the EU’s executive Commission that, under the so-called “safe harbour” agreement, the US ensures adequate data protection.

The agreement has allowed for the free transfer of information by companies from the EU to US. It has been seen as a boost to trade since, absent such a deal, swift and smooth data exchange over the internet would be much more difficult.

On Tuesday, the European Court of Justice ruled the decision by the Commission invalid. It said that the “safe harbour” deal enables interference by US authorities with fundamental rights and contains no reference either to US rules to limit any such interference or to effective legal protection against it.

The court said the effect of the ruling is that the Irish data commissioner will now be required to examine Mr Schrems’ complaint “with all due diligence”.

Once it has concluded its investigation, the authority must “decide whether ... transfer of the data of Facebook’s European subscribers to the United States should be suspended on the ground that that country does not afford an adequate level of protection of personal data,” the court said in a summary of its ruling.

Facebook said it could not immediately comment.

Mr Schrems said he hoped the ruling will be a milestone for online privacy.

“This decision is a major blow for US global surveillance that heavily relies on private partners,” Mr Schrems said in a statement. “The judgement makes it clear that US businesses cannot simply aid US espionage efforts in violation of European fundamental rights.”

However, he noted that the ruling does not bar data transfers from the EU to the US, but rather allows national data protection authorities to review individual transfers.

“Despite some alarmist comments I don’t think that we will see major disruptions in practice,” Mr Schrems said.

Sophie In’t Veld, a leading Liberal member of the European Parliament, welcomed the ruling and called the “safe harbour” decision “a travesty of legality”.

“We need clear rules to govern the transfer of personal data to the US and other non-EU countries,” she said. “But they must be legally watertight, provide real and meaningful protection, and there must be proper enforcement.”

* Associated Press

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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

The rules on fostering in the UAE

A foster couple or family must:

  • be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
  • not be younger than 25 years old
  • not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
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  • A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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  2. Look beyond school fees
  3. Keep an open mind
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Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

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Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
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The line up

Friday: Giggs, Sho Madjozi and Masego  

Saturday: Nas, Lion Bbae, Roxanne Shante and DaniLeigh  

Sole DXB runs from December 6 to 8 at Dubai Design District. Weekend pass is Dh295 while a one day pass is Dh195. Tickets are available from www.soledxb.com

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

UAE's final round of matches
  • Sep 1, 2016 Beat Japan 2-1 (away)
  • Sep 6, 2016 Lost to Australia 1-0 (home)
  • Oct 6, 2016 Beat Thailand 3-1 (home)
  • Oct 11, 2016 Lost to Saudi Arabia 3-0 (away)
  • Nov 15, 2016 Beat Iraq 2-0 (home)
  • Mar 23, 2017 Lost to Japan 2-0 (home)
  • Mar 28, 2017 Lost to Australia 2-0 (away)
  • June 13, 2017 Drew 1-1 with Thailand (away)
  • Aug 29, 2017 v Saudi Arabia (home)
  • Sep 5, 2017 v Iraq (away)

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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