What Is the Impact of Entering into SCCs on the Contractual Provisions Between the Parties?
ANSWER
Clause 16 entitles the data exporter to temporarily suspend the transfer of personal data to the data importer if the latter breaches the SCCs or is unable to comply with them.
Furthermore, in certain particularly serious cases, the data exporter will have the right to terminate the contract insofar as it concerns the processing of personal data. This means that the right to terminate under Clause 16 is limited to the part of the agreement relating to the processing of personal data under the SCCs.
As explained in Clause 2(a), the parties may incorporate the SCCs into a broader master agreement. The provisions of that master agreement — as well as the law governing it — will determine whether a breach of the SCCs affects the master agreement and, in particular, whether the data exporter will have the right to terminate the entire contractual relationship.
Where the processing operations governed by the SCCs involve more than two parties, the data exporter may exercise its right of termination only with respect to the relevant party, unless the parties have agreed otherwise (see Clause 16(c)).
The above answer is based on an official document of the European Commission.
You can review it at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/questions_answers_on_sccs_en.pdf
A translated version of this document is also available on our blog under the title: "Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) – Questions and Answers".
