International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles

The international Safe Harbor Privacy Principles or Safe Harbour Privacy Principles are principles which enable some US companies to comply with privacy laws protecting European Union and Swiss citizens. US companies storing customer data may self-certify that they adhere to 7 principles, to comply with the EU Data Protection Directive and with Swiss requirements. The US Department of Commerce developed privacy frameworks in conjunction with both the European Union and the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner of Switzerland.[1]

Within the context of a series of decisions on the adequacy of the protection of personal data transferred to other countries,[2] the European Commission made a decision in 2000 that the United States' principles complied with the EU Directive - the so-called "Safe Harbour Decision".[3] However, after a customer complained that his Facebook data were insufficiently protected, the European Court of Justice declared in October 2015 that the Safe Harbour Decision was invalid, leading to further talks being held by the Commission with the US authorities towards "a renewed and sound framework for transatlantic data flows".[4]

The European Commission and the United States agreed to establish a new framework for transatlantic data flows on 2nd February 2016, known as the "EU-US Privacy Shield".[5]

Background history

In 1980, the OECD issued recommendations for protection of personal data in the form of seven principles. These were non-binding and in 1995, the European Union (EU) enacted a more binding form of governance, i.e. legislation, to protect personal data privacy in the form of the Data Protection Directive. [6]

According to the Data Protection Directive, companies operating in the European Union are not permitted to send personal data to "third countries" outside the European Economic Area, unless they guarantee adequate levels of protection, "the data subject himself agrees to the transfer" or "if Binding corporate rules or Standard Contractual Clauses have been authorised."[7] The latter means that privacy protection can be at an organizational level, where a multinational organization produces and documents its internal controls on personal data or they can be at the level of a country if its laws are considered to offer protection equal to the EU.

The Safe Harbour Privacy Principles were developed between 1998-2000. They were designed to prevent private organizations within the European Union or United States which store customer data from accidentally disclosing or losing personal information. US companies could opt into a program and be certified if they adhered to seven principles and 15 frequently asked questions and answers per the Directive.[8] In July 2000, the European Commission (EC) decided that US companies complying with the principles and registering their certification that they met the EU requirements, the so-called "safe harbour scheme", were allowed to transfer data from the EU to the US. This is referred to as the Safe Harbour Decision.[9]

On 6 October 2015, the European Court of Justice invalidated the EC's Safe Harbour Decision, because "legislation permitting the public authorities to have access on a generalised basis to the content of electronic communications must be regarded as compromising the essence of the fundamental right to respect for private life" (boldened in original text).[10]:2-3

According to the European Commission, the EU-US Privacy Shield agreed on 2 February 2016 "reflects the requirements set out by the European Court of Justice in its ruling on 6 October 2015, which declared the old Safe Harbour framework invalid. The new arrangement will provide stronger obligations on companies in the U.S. to protect the personal data of Europeans and stronger monitoring and enforcement by the U.S. Department of Commerce and Federal Trade Commission, including through increased cooperation with European Data Protection Authorities. The new arrangement includes commitments by the U.S. that possibilities under U.S. law for public authorities to access personal data transferred under the new arrangement will be subject to clear conditions, limitations and oversight, preventing generalised access. Europeans will have the possibility to raise any enquiry or complaint in this context with a dedicated new Ombudsperson".[11]

Principles

The seven principles from 2000 are:[9]

Scope, certification and enforcement

Only U.S. organizations regulated by the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Transportation may participate in this voluntary program. This excludes many financial institutions, (such as banks, investment houses, credit unions, and savings & loans institutions), telecommunication common carriers, including internet service providers, labor associations, non-profit organizations, agricultural co-operatives, and meat processors, journalists and most insurances.[12] although it may include investment banks per [13]

After opting in, an organization must have appropriate employee training and an effective dispute mechanism in place, and self re-certify every 12 months in writing that it agrees to adhere to the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework's principles, including notice, choice, access, and enforcement.[14] It can either perform a self-assessment to verify that it complies with the principles, or hire a third-party to perform the assessment. Companies pay an annual $100 fee for registration except for first time registration ($200)[15]

The U.S. government does not regulate Safe Harbor, which is self-regulated through its private sector members and the dispute resolution entities they pick. The Federal Trade Commission "manages" the system under the oversight of the U.S. Department of Commerce.[16]to comply with the commitments can be penalized under the Federal Trade Commission Act by administrative orders and civil penalties of up to $16,000 per day for violations. If an organization fails to comply with the framework it must promptly notify the Department of Commerce, or else it can be prosecuted under the 'False Statements Act'.[14]

In a 2011 case, the Federal Trade Commission obtained a consent decree from a California-based online retailer that had sold exclusively to customers in the United Kingdom. Among its many alleged deceptive practices was representing itself as having self-certified under Safe Harbour when in fact it had not. It was barred from doing so in the future.[17]

Criticism and evaluation

EU evaluations

The EU-US Safe Harbour Principles 'self certification scheme' has been criticised in regard to their compliance and enforcement in three external EU evaluations:

Galexia recommended the EU to re-negotiate the Safe Harbor arrangement, provide warnings to EU consumers and consider to comprehensively review all list entries. They recommended to the US to investigate the hundreds of organisations making false claims, revising its statements about the number of participants, to abandon the use of the Safe Harbor Certification Mark, to investigate the unauthorised and misleading use of its Departmental logo and automatically suspend an organisation’s membership if they failed to renew their Safe Harbor certification.[20]

Patriot Act's reach

In June 2011, Microsoft U.K.'s managing director Gordon Frazer said that "cloud data, regardless of where it is in the world, is not protected against the Patriot Act."[21]

The Netherlands promptly ruled out U.S. cloud suppliers from Dutch government contracts, and even considered a ban on Microsoft- and Google- provided cloud contracts. A Dutch subsidiary of the U.S. based Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) runs the electronic health records of the Dutch national health service system and warned, that unless CSC could assure it was not subject to the Patriot Act, it would end the contract.[22]

One year later in 2012, a legal research paper supported the notion that the Patriot Act allowed U.S. law enforcement to bypass European privacy laws.[22]

Citizen complaint about Facebook data safety

In October 2015, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), responded to a referral from the High Court of Ireland in relation to a complaint from Austrian citizen Maximillian Schrems regarding Facebook's processing of his personal data from its Irish subsidiary to servers in the US. Schrems complained that "in the light of the revelations made in 2013 by Edward Snowden concerning the activities of the United States intelligence services (in particular the National Security Agency (‘the NSA’)), the law and practice of the United States do not offer sufficient protection against surveillance by the public authorities." The ECJ held the Safe Harbour Principles to be invalid, as they did not require all organizations entitled to work with EU privacy-related data to comply with it, thus providing insufficient guarantees. US federal government agencies could use personal data under US law, but were not required to opt in. The court held that companies opting in were "bound to disregard, without limitation, the protective rules laid down by that scheme where they conflict with national security, public interest and law enforcement requirements."[10]

In accordance with the EU rules for referral to the ECJ for a 'preliminary ruling', the Irish Data Protection Commissioner since then has had to "...examine Mr. Schrems' case 'with all due diligence' and [...] decide whether [...] the transfer of Facebook's European subscribers' personal data to the United States should be suspended."[10] EU regulators said that if the ECJ and United States did not negotiate a new system within three months, businesses might face action from European privacy regulators. On October 29, 2015, a new "Safe Harbour 2.0" agreement appeared close to being finalized.[23] However Commissioner Jourova expects the U.S. to act next.[24] American NGOs were quick to expand on the significance of the decision.[25]

Response to EU-US Privacy Shield Agreement

German MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht and campaigner Max Schrems have criticized the new ruling, with the latter predicting that the Commission might be taking a "round-trip to Luxembourg” (where the European Court of Justice is located).[26] EU Commissioner for Consumers, Vera Jourova, expressed confidence that a deal would be reached by the end of February.[27] Many Europeans are demanding a mechanism for individual European citizens to lodge complaints over the use of their data, as well as a transparency scheme to assure that European citizens data does not fall into the hands of U.S intelligence agencies.[28] The Article 29 Working Party has taken up this demand, and stated it will hold back another month until March 2016 to decide on consequences of Commissioner Jourova's new proposal. [29] The European Commission’s Director for Fundamental Rights Paul Nemitz stated at a conference in Brussels in January how the Commission would decide on the "adequacy" of data protection. [30] The Economist newspaper predicts that "once the Commission has issued a beefed-up 'adequacy decision', it will be harder for the ECJ to strike it down." [31] Privacy activist Joe McNamee summed up the situation by noting the Commission has announced agreements prematurely, thus forfeiting its negotiating right.[32] At the same time, the first court challenges in Germany have commenced: the Hamburg data protection authority was during February 2016 preparing to fine three companies for relying on Safe Harbour as the legal basis for their transatlantic data transfers and two other companies were under investigation.[33]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Welcome to the U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor accessed 1 November 2015
  2. ↑ Commission decisions on the adequacy of the protection of personal data in third countries accessed 1 November 2015
  3. ↑ 2000/520/EC: Commission Decision of 26 July 2000 pursuant to Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the adequacy of the protection provided by the safe harbour privacy principles and related frequently asked questions issued by the US Department of Commerce (notified under document number C(2000) 2441), accessed 1 November 2015
  4. ↑ Vera Jourova, "Commissioner Jourová's remarks on Safe Harbour EU Court of Justice judgement before the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE)", 26 October 2015
  5. ↑ The new transatlantic data “Privacy Shield”, accessed 25 February 2016
  6. ↑ Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data
  7. ↑ European Commission (15 June 2001)Commission Decision 2001/497/EC of 15 June 2001 on standard contractual clauses for the transfer of personal data to third countries under Directive 95/46/EC15 June 2001, Official Journal L 181 of 04.07.2001.
  8. ↑ "U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework Documents". US government. Archived from the original on 10 Sep 2015.
  9. 1 2 European Court of Justice 2000/520/EC: Commission Decision of 26 July 2000 pursuant to Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the adequacy of the protection provided by the safe harbour privacy principles and related frequently asked questions issued by the US Department of Commerce (notified under document number C(2000) 2441) (Text with EEA relevance.) 25 August 2000, retrieved 30 October 2015
  10. 1 2 3 "Judgment in Case C-362/14 Maximillian Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner: The Court of Justice declares that the Commission’s US Safe Harbour Decision is invalid" (press release) (Press release). Court of Justice of the European Union. 6 October 2015. p. 3. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  11. ↑ EU Commission and United States agree on new framework for transatlantic data flows: EU-US Privacy Shield, issued 2 February 2016
  12. ↑ U.S. Department of Commerce Welcome to the U.S.-EU & U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Frameworks 9 October 2015, retrieved 30 October 2015
  13. ↑ U.S. Department of Commerce FAQ - Investment banking and audits 29 January 2009, retrieved 30 October 2015
  14. 1 2 U.S. Department of Commerce U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Overview, 18 December 2013, retrieved 30 October 2015
  15. ↑ U.S. Department of Commerce Safe Harbor Fees 9 April 2015, retrieved 30 October 2015
  16. ↑ Zach Whittaker Safe Harbor: Why EU data needs 'protecting' from US law Failure Zdnet, 25 April 2011
  17. ↑ Staff writer (June 9, 2011). "FTC Settlement Bans Online U.S. Electronics Retailer from Deceiving Consumers with Foreign Website Names" (Press release). Washington. Federal Trade Commission. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  18. ↑ European Commission (2002) The application of Commission Decision on the adequate protection of personal data provided by the Safe Harbour Privacy Principles 11 pages, retrieved 30 October 2015
  19. ↑ European Commission (2004) The implementation of Commission Decision on the adequate protection of personal data provided by the Safe Harbour Privacy Principles 11 pages, retrieved 30 October 2015
  20. ↑ Chris Connolly (Galexia) US Safe Harbor - Fact or Fiction? Privacy Laws and Business International, issue 96, December 2008, published on Galexia.com, retrieved 30 October 2015
  21. ↑ Zack Whittaker, Microsoft admits Patriot Act can access EU-based cloud data Zdnet.com, June 28, 2011, retrieved 30 October 2015
  22. 1 2 Zack Whittaker, Patriot Act can "obtain" data in Europe, researchers say CBS News December 4, 2012
  23. ↑ Georgina Prodhan (October 29, 2015). "U.S. sees new EU data-sharing pact within reach". Reuters. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  24. ↑ Peter Sayer (November 6, 2015). "E.U. tells U.S. it must make next move on new Safe Harbor deal, Nov. 6, 2015". Computerworld. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  25. ↑ NGOs (October 13, 2015). "Digital Privacy, in the U.S. and Europe". New York Times. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  26. ↑ Max Schrems: “EU US Privacy Shield” (Safe Harbor 1.1) “European Commission may be issuing a round-trip to Luxembourg” 16:45 (2nd Feb. 2016), PDF retrieved 3rd Feb. 2016
  27. ↑ "Jourová: The new EU-US bridge [INTERVIEW]". New Europe. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  28. ↑ Lomas, Natasha. "EU-US Data Transfers Won’t Be Blocked While Privacy Shield Details Are Hammered Out, Says WP29". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  29. ↑ Statement on the consequences of the Schrems judgement (2nd Feb. 2016), PDF retrieved 6th Feb. 2016
  30. ↑ Bracy, Jedidiah. "New data transfer deal could come by Monday, 2015-01-28". The Privacy Advisor. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  31. ↑ "Charlemagne: "Swords and shields". America and the European Union have reached a deal on data protection, Feb 6th 2016". The Economist. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  32. ↑ "What’s behind the shield? Unspinning the “privacy shield” spin, Feb 2nd 2016". European Digital Rights initiative (EDRi). Retrieved 2016-02-10.
  33. ↑ Meyer, David. "Here Comes the Post-Safe Harbor EU Privacy Crackdown, Feb.25, 2016". Fortune Magazine. Retrieved 2016-02-26.

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