Welcome to the Safe Harbor

Announcement: U.S. Department of Commerce Announces New Certification Mark for Safe Harbor Program

New Event: Workshop on International Transfers of Personal Data, October 21, 2008, Centre Albert Borschette, rue Froissart 36, B-1049, Brussels, Belgium.

Introduction:

The European Commission’s Directive on Data Protection went into effect in October of 1998, and would prohibit the transfer of personal data to non-European Union nations that do not meet the European “adequacy” standard for privacy protection. While the United States and the European Union share the goal of enhancing privacy protection for their citizens, the United States takes a different approach to privacy from that taken by the European Union.

In order to bridge these different privacy approaches and provide a streamlined means for U.S. organizations to comply with the Directive, the U.S. Department of Commerce in consultation with the European Commission developed a "Safe Harbor" framework and this website to provide the information an organization should need to evaluate – and then join – the Safe Harbor.

To get started, use the following two links:

Safe Harbor Checklist for U.S. Companies

Helpful Hints Prior to Self-Certifying

October Conference Presentations Available:

Presentations from the Conference on Cross Border Data Flows, Data Protection and Privacy, October 15-16, 2007 are available on the Conference site:

Conference Website