Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) are pre-approved contract templates from the European Commission allowing personal data transfers from the EU/EEA to countries without an EU adequacy decision, including the United States. They are the most widely used transfer mechanism under GDPR Chapter V. Updated SCCs took effect December 2022, replacing versions invalidated by the Schrems II ruling. For website operators, SCCs apply whenever EU personal data flows to US-based tools — Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, email platforms, or cloud hosting providers. Running EU visitor data through US tools without a valid transfer mechanism in place is a GDPR violation.