(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Union have started talks to evaluate the potential for “an enhanced EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework” after the EU’s top court threw out the current system for shipping data across the Atlantic.

Both sides recognize the “vital importance of data protection and the significance of cross-border data transfers to our citizens and economies,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said in a joint statement on Monday.

“As we face new challenges together, including the recovery of the global economy after the Covid-19 pandemic, our partnership will strengthen data protection and promote greater prosperity for ournearly 800 million citizens on both sides of the Atlantic,” they said.

EU judges struck down the privacy shield in a surprise ruling in July amid fears over potential U.S. surveillance. The controversy stretched back to 2013, when former contractor Edward Snowden exposed the extent of spying by the U.S. National Security Agency.

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