Prof. Herwig Hofmann of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance has been making international headlines thanks to a verdict by the Court of Justice of the European Union in a case against Facebook.

Around the globe news media reported on the CJEU’s verdict, which declared the US’s Safe Harbor agreement invalid. The agreement allows US companies to compile data from European users and move them to the US. The CJEU found, however, that not enough was being done to protect user data there, for example from surveillance by the NSA.

Some 4,000 companies could reportedly be affected by this verdict, which has raised questions over the future of data transfer between the EU and the US.

Austrian student Max Schrems had launched the proceedings, saying that Facebook did not sufficiently protect his user data. He was represented by Prof. Hofmann.

Luxembourg paper L’essentiel in its German online edition featured both an interview with Prof. Hofmann, as well as some comments by Faculty Dean Stefan Braum, who pointed out that the case confirmed the European research orientation of the University, with Prof. Hofmann saying that he hopes the verdict will contribute to increasing the visibility of the work done at the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance.

You can listen to Prof. Hofmann discuss the case with the BBC on their World Service's Newshour programme. The segment is the first to be discussed on the show. Prof. Hofmann also spoke to New Zealand broadcaster Radio New Zealand. If you speak Spanish, you can read an interview with Prof. Hofmann featured in La Vanguardia here.

The story was featured coast-to-coast in top US media, from the New York Times to the LA Times, as well as news services from Bloomberg to Buzzfeed. With wire service Agence France Presse on site in Luxembourg, the story also spread to other parts of the world, for example The Times of India and Turkey’s Hürriyet newspaper.

This is only a small selection of press clippings.

Edward Snowden, who brought to light the NSA mass surveillance scandal, tweeted a message of support to Mr Schrems. He also thanked Europe and the CJEU for defending digital rights.

We extend our congratulations to Prof. Herwig on his success.