Bottom line: The Supreme Court’s decision on FTC independence undermines the legal basis for EU-US data flows, as European regulations rely on FTC independence 259 times.
The US Supreme Court has declared the independence of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) unconstitutional. Since the EU data protection framework relies on FTC independence 259 times, the legal basis for free data flows between the EU and USA is fundamentally in question.
In the case “Trump v. Slaughter,” the US Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that the FTC can no longer operate as an independent agency. The conservative majority follows a “unitarian” theory of presidential power, according to which the US President must have comprehensive control over all executive agencies. Several US laws guaranteeing agency independence were thereby found unconstitutional.
The EU legal bases – in particular Article 16, paragraph 2 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 8, paragraph 3 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights – oblige the Commission to ensure independent supervision of data protection matters. For third-country data transfers, the target country must offer “essentially equivalent” standards of protection. Since 2023, the current EU-US Data Privacy Framework (“Adequacy Decision”) has been based on the assumption of this FTC independence – a total of 259 times.
In addition to the FTC issue, the “Data Protection Review Court” is also affected, which is supposed to provide remedies for US surveillance measures. This institution is effectively an executive agency of the US Department of Justice and owes its “independence” only to an Executive Order by President Biden – a status that the current President can change at any time and which is not bound to the presidency.
Max Schrems of noyb.eu demands that the European Commission properly withdraw the “Adequacy Decision.” Without genuine independence of the US data protection authority and without a functioning, independent complaint procedure for government surveillance, the EU legal basis cannot be maintained – regardless of how the Commission otherwise justifies this position.
Source: noyb.eu · Published 29 June 2026
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