Data privacy ‘safe harbour’ plan defended

Date: 15/03/01

By Peter Chapman

EUROPEAN Commission officials are playing down fears that a data-protection accord with the US is proving to be an over-hyped flop.

The agreement, thrashed out last summer, lets US firms show that they meet EU data-privacy rules by signing up to measures known as a 'safe harbour'.

It helped offset fears of a trade war which could have been triggered by member states invoking legislation allowing them to block exports of data such as email address lists.

But so far only 30 companies - including Hewlett Packard and Dun & Bradstreet - have said they meet the safe-harbour terms, prompting fears that the scheme is not working.

"It is true that the numbers are not exciting but they are slowly growing," said one Commission expert, adding that the scheme is just one of several ways firms can meet the terms of the EU's rules based on a directive adopted in 1995.

Bernard de Valence, European chief executive of Hewlett Packard, said in an interview with European Voice that complying with the safe harbour standards was a major step towards boosting customers' confidence.

European Commission officials are playing down fears that a data-protection accord with the US is proving to be an over-hyped flop.