(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.
(2) The Commission may find that a third country ensures an adequate level of protection. In that case, personal data may be transferred from the Member States without additional guarantees being necessary.
(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).
(9) Andorra has ratified the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data of 28 January 1981, and the Additional Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data regarding supervisory authorities and transborder data flows of 8 November 2001 as well as the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 4 November 1950, in Andorra in force since 22 January 1996, and the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966, in Andorra in force since 19 July 2006.
(12) Andorra should therefore be regarded as providing an adequate level of protection for personal data as referred to in Directive 95/46/EC.
(13) In the interest of transparency and in order to safeguard the ability of the competent authorities in the Member States to ensure the protection of individuals as regards the processing of their personal data, it is necessary to specify the exceptional circumstances in which the suspension of specific data flows may be justified, notwithstanding the finding of adequate protection.
(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.
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: