(1) Pursuant to Directive 95/46/EC, Member States are required to provide that the transfer of personal data to a third country may take place only if the third country in question ensures an adequate level of protection and if the Member States’ laws implementing other provisions of the Directive are complied with prior to the transfer.

(3) ursuant to Directive 95/46/EC the level of data protection should be assessed in the light of all the circumstances surrounding a data transfer operation or a set of data transfer operations and giving particular consideration to a number of elements relevant for the transfer and listed in Article 25 thereof.

(4) Given the different approaches to data protection in third countries, the adequacy assessment should be carried out, and any decision based on Article 25(6) of Directive 95/46/EC should be made and enforced in a way that does not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate against or between third countries where like conditions prevail, nor constitute a disguised barrier to trade, regard being had to the European Union’s present international commitments.

(7) The legal rules for the protection of personal data in Andorra are largely based on the standards set out in Directive 95/46/EC and are laid down in the Qualified Law 15/2003 of 18 December on the protection of personal data (Llei qualificada de protecció de dades personals) (LQPDP). This data protection legislation is further complemented by Decree of 1 July 2004, establishing the Public Register for the Inscription of Personal Data Files and by Decree of 9 June 2010 approving the Regulations of the Andorra Data Protection Agency. This latter instrument clarifies several issues raised by the Working Party on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data established under Article 29 of Directive 95/46/EC in its Opinion of 1 December 2009 (2).

(12) Andorra should therefore be regarded as providing an adequate level of protection for personal data as referred to in Directive 95/46/EC.

(14) The Working Party on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data established under Article 29 of Directive 95/46/EC has delivered a favourable opinion on the level of adequacy as regards protection of personal data, which has been taken into account in the preparation of this Decision (3). In its favourable opinion, the Working Party has encouraged the Andorran authorities in the ongoing process of adopting further provisions which will extend the application of Andorran legislation to automated individual decisions, as this is currently not expressly recognised by the Andorran Qualified Law on the protection of personal data.

(15) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established under Article 31(1) of Directive 95/46/EC,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

For the purposes of Article 25(2) of Directive 95/46/EC, Andorra is considered as providing an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred from the European Union.

This Decision concerns the adequacy of protection provided in Andorra with a view to meeting the requirements of Article 25(1) of Directive 95/46/EC and does not affect other conditions or restrictions implementing other provisions of that Directive that pertain to the processing of personal data within the Member States.

1. Without prejudice to their powers to take action to ensure compliance with national provisions adopted pursuant to provisions other than Article 25 of Directive 95/46/EC, the competent authorities in Member States may exercise their existing powers to suspend data flows to a recipient in Andorra in order to protect individuals with regard to the processing of their personal data in the following cases:

3. If the information collected under Article 3 and under paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article provides evidence that any body responsible for ensuring compliance with the standards of protection in Andorra is not effectively fulfilling its role, the Commission shall inform the competent Andorran authority and, if necessary, present draft measures in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 31(2) of Directive 95/46/EC with a view to repealing or suspending this Decision or limiting its scope.

The Commission shall monitor the functioning of this Decision and report any pertinent findings to the Committee established under Article 31 of Directive 95/46/EC, including any evidence that could affect the finding in Article 1 of this Decision, that protection in Andorra is adequate within the meaning of Article 25 of Directive 95/46/EC and any evidence that this Decision is being implemented in a discriminatory way.