NO! - Top EU court says U.S. Safe Harbor Decision is invalid.

NO! - Top EU court says U.S.-EU data transfer deal is invalid. (Reuters).

A system enabling data transfers from the European Union to the United States by thousands of companies is invalid, the highest European Union court said on Tuesday in a landmark ruling that will leave firms scrambling to find alternative measures.

"The Court of Justice declares that the Commission’s U.S. Safe Harbor Decision is invalid," it said in a statement.

The decision could sound the death knell for the Safe Harbor framework set up fifteen years ago to help companies on both sides of the Atlantic conduct everyday business but which has come under heavy fire following 2013 revelations of mass U.S. snooping.

Without Safe Harbor, personal data transfers are forbidden, or only allowed via costlier and more time-consuming means, under EU laws that prohibit data-sharing with countries deemed to have lower privacy standards, of which the United States is one.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) said that U.S. companies are "bound to disregard, without limitation," the privacy safeguards provided in Safe Harbor where they come into conflict with the national security, public interest and law enforcement requirements of the United States.Read the full story here.