[flagged]

In this context, a social construct. In terms much more popular a century ago, a 'nation': A people who have some similarities in how they approach, in this case, a combination of 'privacy aspects in regards to business' and 'to what extent America can be trusted to be of similar social construct and thus likely to end up between company policy and legal principles at the same or a similar conclusion'.

Or to make it even simpler: The EU's written and unwritten rules, along with countries that closely track such things, such as Norway, Switserland, Iceland, etc.