The agreement that was in place allowed US businesses to self certify and then sign a voluntary list at the US Dept. of Commerce which made them untouchable in the EU.<p>Why? Well, because the agreement says so and because any legal proceedings would be in the US according to the agreement and enforced &quot;primarily by the private sector&quot;. Because that makes sense right? Courts, lawyers and laws are so boring anyways...<p>This change means that EU countries can now question the claim and act if it&#x27;s a lie. Since EU is moving to harmonize data storage laws among it&#x27;s member countries there won&#x27;t be any bureaucratic mess only a return of citizen rights.<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.export.gov&#x2F;safeharbor&#x2F;eu&#x2F;eg_main_018476.asp" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.export.gov&#x2F;safeharbor&#x2F;eu&#x2F;eg_main_018476.asp</a><p>[EDIT]
Ah, yes, the data storage location thing. That&#x27;s mainly a consequence of the NSA thingy. Thanks to that no US company can any longer fully claim that any data stored in the US can be kept private. It&#x27;s kind of silly since everybody spies on everybody else but the US got caught.