The European Commission has tossed the ball back to the European Union to decide whether the safe harbor provisions of a data protection agreement with the United States should be renegotiated.
Yesterday the EC indirectly said it was up to the European Union to decide after it failed to act on the European Parliament’s request to reopen talks with U.S. officials. The provision permits participating U.S. direct marketers, list companies, and others to obtain, use and disseminate the personal data of European consumers for marketing purposes only after obtaining a person’s written permission.
The 626-member European Parliament cited the lack of laws in the U.S. similar to those that protect the privacy of personal information in Europe as the chief reason for renegotiating agreement.
A spokesman for the European Parliament explained that most members ” feel that the American way of protecting personal privacy through industry self-regulation is inadequate and should be done by law.”
Representatives of the U.S. Commerce Department who are closely monitoring the EC’s meeting in Brussels could not be reached immediately for comment.
Charles Prescott, the Direct Marketing Association’s senior vice president, International Business Development and Governmental Affairs, suggested the European Parliament agree to a test of the safe harbor provisions ” for a defined period of time” but did not indicate how long he thought the test period should be.
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