Commission recognises 'safe harbour' agreement
Following two years of negotiations, the European Commission has adopted a decision recognising the 'safe harbour' agreement set up with the USA as meeting the requirements of the EU's data protection Directive. The decision will take effect in November. The arrangements for the 'safe harbour' agreement had been put in place via a dialogue between the EU and the US Department of Commerce in response to the possibility of conflict with the EU's data protection Directive, which entered into force in 1998. 'Safe harbour' establishes a set of data protection principles which US companies can voluntarily adhere to, thereby providing adequate protection for data transferred out of the EU. Despite the voluntary nature of the agreement, US companies that sign up to the 'safe harbour' agreement will be bound by its rules. Those US organisations that remain outside the 'safe harbour' agreement will still be able to engage in data transfers, but will have to do so either under one of the permitted exceptions or will require an alternative safeguard, such as a contract. A publicly-available list of those who have signed up to 'safe harbour' will be available for EU citizens wishing to find out the status of the US recipient. Those US organisations who continually abuse the principles of 'safe harbour' will be ejected from the list. EU citizens with a dispute with a US counterpart concerning use of the transferred data will be able to pursue the dispute under a pre-agreed mechanism, which can include taking the organisation to a US court. While the view from the European Parliament concerning the agreement had expressed concern that improvements were needed to remedy individual breaches of the principles of the agreement. The Commission pressed ahead with adopting the Decision, as the Parliament had made clear that the Commission would not be exceeding its powers if it were to adopt the agreement. In addition, the Commission notified the US Department of commerce of the Parliament's concerns and informed it that negotiations would be re-opened should its fears prove well-founded. In addition to the agreement with the USA, the Commission also recognised the adequacy of protection of the frameworks of both Switzerland and Hungary. Negotiations are ongoing with other countries, including Japan, Australia and Canada.