More than 4,000 U.S.-based multinational companies have selected the U.S. – E.U. Safe Harbor Programas the preferred compliance mechanism for international data transfers from the E.U. to the U.S.  Recent transatlantic surveillance politics between the European Union and the United States have, however, focused a controversial spotlight on the Safe Harbor Program.  In the world of international personal data transfer regulation, the Safe Harbor Program has become a cause célèbre in the E.U.-U.S. trade discussions and in political commentary by E.U. data protection regulators.  Despite the political wrangling, European data protection officials are unlikely to eliminate the benefits of the Safe Harbor Program without offering an alternative program that recognizes the work of companies in implementing E.U.-compliant data protection programs.

For more information on this subject, see “EU Privacy Safe Harbor Still Alive and Well, With Implications for Enterprise Risk Management,” written by Ann Killilea and published by Thomson Reuters Practical International Corporate Finance Strategies, November 15, 2013.