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Rachel Tarko Hudson is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the firm's San Francisco office. She is also a member of the Retail Team.

By ballot initiative, California residents recently approved Proposition 24, or the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), with approximately 56 percent voting in favor. CPRA significantly amends the CCPA by expanding individual rights, introducing new GDPR-style governance measures, and establishing a new enforcement agency (among other things). Importantly, CPRA does not replace or repeal CCPA, but rather augments it.  Further, no new private right of action will be added by CPRA.  The substantive provisions of CPRA do not take effect until January 1, 2023.
Continue Reading The CCPA Wheels Keep Turning: The Addition of CPRA

As the California legislature session concluded at the end of August, a significant amendment to the CCPA finally passed both houses. California bill AB-1281 passed the Senate in the last days of the month, extending the business-to-business and employee/applicant carve-outs through January 1, 2022 (as we wrote about previously). The bill now sits with Governor Newsom to sign before the end of September.
Continue Reading CCPA Bill Extending Exemptions Passes Through California Legislature

The California AG has now released the final CCPA regulations, as approved by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL).  The final draft (issued August 14, 2020) incorporates some relatively minor changes that the OAG submitted as part of its final rulemaking package, as summarized in its addendum to the final statement of reasons. In addition to generally “non-substantive” edits for consistency, etc. the OAG withdrew four sections (999.305(a)(5), 999.306(b)(2), 999.315(c), and 999.326(c)) from OAL review.
Continue Reading CCPA Regulations Finally Approved, Effective Immediately

With the current limited exemptions under CCPA for employment and business-to-business related information set to expire January 1, 2021, there is uncertainty over when businesses should prepare to extend CCPA compliance efforts to this type of information. However, a pending amendment in the California senate, and/or the impending CPRA ballot initiative in November may bring clarity to the issue.
Continue Reading What Will Come First: Pending CCPA Amendment Could Clarify Key Exemptions

The EDPB has provided input about consent in its recent FAQs responding to the Schrems II invalidation of Privacy Shield. As we wrote about previously in this series, Schrems II impacted how companies transfer data from the EU to the U.S..  As background, under GDPR, consent from the individual can be relied on to transfer information from the EU to an entity outside of the EU’s borders if three conditions exist. The EDPB reminded companies of these three conditions in its FAQs, drawing on prior guidance about consent:
Continue Reading Schrems II Fallout Continued: Can Companies Rely on Consent?

Companies who transfer data from the EU to the U.S. are struggling to determine the appropriate basis under which they can make these transfers. Continuing our examination of the outcome of this decision, we think now about what companies can do for transfers of information from the EU to the U.S.
Continue Reading EU Reaction to the Fall of Privacy Shield: The Rise of SCCs?

U.S. companies are in a bind in the wake of the recent EU decision rejecting the validity of the Privacy Shield. While it is clear that the EU will not accept Privacy Shield participation as a basis for transferring data from the EU to the U.S., next steps for participants are unfortunately not clear cut. U.S. companies who participate in the Shield program face two decisions: (1) whether to continue participation in the Privacy Shield program and (2) what mechanism to rely on for data transfers from the EU to the U.S.
Continue Reading How to Rise from the Privacy Shield Ashes: A View from the U.S.

On July 16, 2020, in the case colloquially known as “Schrems II,” the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) struck down the EU-US Privacy Shield, finding it an invalid mechanism for transferring data from the EU to the US. The CJEU concluded that the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) are valid for the transfer of personal data outside the EU (which would include transfers to the US), with certain conditions.
Continue Reading CJEU Invalidates Privacy Shield, But Upholds SCCs with Conditions

On June 1, 2020, the California AG submitted the final text of the proposed CCPA regulations to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL). There were no changes to the final text from the last version released in March, which we previously summarized here.
Continue Reading Final Draft CCPA Regulations Submitted, Effective Date Unclear

On March 11, 2020, the second set of modifications (or the third version) of the CCPA draft regulations were released. While the number of substantive changes dwindled in this version, there are a number of drafting corrections and a few modifications of note. Namely:
Continue Reading Can you Zigzag? California AG Releases Latest Draft of CCPA Regulations

As many who have been tracking CCPA are aware, the law requires training employees who handle consumer inquiries, and ensuring that employees understand how to help consumers exercise their rights. Since most of those rights requests are arriving by web page, email, and phone, it is unlikely that rights requests will slow in the face of COVID-19. Indeed, it is possible that they may increase. Employees will thus still need training, something many companies had anticipated doing in-person.

CoronavirusContinue Reading Turn On the Camera Part Three: Fulfilling CCPA Training Obligations in the Face of COVID-19