Negotiators for the U.S. Commerce Department and the European Commission reported progress in attempts to resolve their conflict over the protection of personal information. They reconfirmed that the flow of data between the United States and EC member countries will continue without interruption.
Ross Brown, deputy director of public affairs for the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration, told DIRECT Newsline that “both sides feel they made good progress, narrowing some of their differences” on privacy protections.
Brown would not say what differences had been narrowed, only that additional talks are planned.
Intermittent talks between the United States and EC began last October after the EC’s tough new rules to protect the privacy of personal information went into effect. Those rules, which conflict with U.S. privacy laws and practices, prohibit the sale or rental of personal data and identifiers such as name, address and telephone number, to a third party without a person’s permission.
The United States has been trying to negotiate a permanent “safe harbor” agreement with the EC that would protect personal data in the EC’s 15 member countries and permit the free flow of that data to American companies, including direct marketers, doing business in Europe. The concept has been endorsed by the Direct Marketing Association as long as it does not affect existing privacy-protection laws and practices in the United States.
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