This short article explains the streamlined U.S. legislative procedure that applies for executive agreements under the Cloud Act.  By contrast, other procedures exist, but require considerably more challenging steps for approval by Congress to go into effect. [...]

In her article Unpacking the CLOUD Act, Daskal seeks to demystify the recently enacted Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act, enacted in March 2018 by the U.S. government in an effort to address challenges faced by law enforcement in accessing data located across borders. The article explains the two parts of the act, dealing with: (i) U.S. access to data located outside the United States; and (ii) foreign government access to data held by U.S. companies within the [...]

The year 2018 was marked by some important legislative initiatives in the United States and the European Union reflecting a new approach concerning Law Enforcement Agents’ (LEAs) access to electronic evidence. These initiatives were motivated by the significant legal challenges that the globalization of criminal evidence is creating for LEAs: a 2018 report by the European Commission found that “more than half of all investigations involve a cross-border request to access [electronic] evidence”. Considering that traditional instruments for cross-border cooperation [...]

The Cloud Act authorizes the U.S. government to enter into executive agreements with other nations, so long as listed privacy and human rights protections are built into those agreements. One prime requirement is that the non-U.S. government request for criminal evidence “shall be subject to review or oversight by a court, judge, magistrate, or other independent authority prior to, or in proceedings regarding, enforcement of the order.” This requirement of “review or oversight” by a judicial officer could split the [...]