European data protection policies, those requiring standard contractual privacy clauses, were criticized today by a privacy authority in the United States.
Paul Clerk, chief security and privacy executive for EDS. argued that “political bodies should not use the business community as its foot soldiers to impose their views on privacy standards on the rest of the world.”
Clark, who expressed his views during a meeting of global privacy officers last week in Stuttgart, Germany, claimed that contract clauses now being developed by businesses are a viable alternative to those offered by the European Commission.
“Direct political interference in commercial contracts is unwarranted,” he said in a statement.
He added that the EC-approved contracts should not be required.
The contracts in question apply to personal data that is shipped from European Union-member countries to non-member countries for processing.
EDS does business in 60 countries.
Clark claimed that his firm’s own privacy code “ensures successful compliance with privacy standards around the world. At the same time, this foundation document was designed to provide flexibility, which is a critical factor in responding to the complexities of compliance in the global arena.”
In a related development, the European Commission has published a privacy questionnaire on its Web site (www.europa.eu.int) for comment by citizens, according to news reports.
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