Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, PRIVACY NEWS: FTC Chairwoman pledges to protect consumer privacy through enforcement of U.S.-EU Safe Harbor, (Oct 29, 2013)

By Jeffrey May. J.D.

“Against the backdrop of the revelations about the U.S. National Security Agency’s surveillance activities,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez today urged European Union officials not to abandon the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor framework, which permits businesses to transfer personal data from the Europe to the United States without violating strict European privacy laws.

Joined by other U.S. government representatives and officials from the EU in Brussels at a consumer protection conference sponsored by The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), a forum that promotes consumer interests in European and U.S. policy making, Ramirez suggested that EU leaders “re-consider the virtues of the Safe Harbor system.”

In remarks prepared for delivery, entitled “Protecting Consumers and Competition in a New Era of Transatlantic Trade,” Ramirez “address[ed] head-on the contention that Safe Harbor isn’t up to the job of providing protection for EU citizens’ data in the commercial sphere.” The safe harbor bridges differences between EU and U.S. privacy law and provides a streamlined means for U.S. organizations to comply with the European Commission’s Directive on Data Protection.

The agency head explained that the FTC serves the important role of enforcing the Safe Harbor. The agency is strongly committed to vigilant enforcement of Safe Harbor certifications, she noted.

“The FTC proactively looks for Safe Harbor violations in every privacy and data security investigation we conduct,” Ramirez assured the audience. “In fact, that is how we came to identify the Safe Harbor violations we alleged against Google, Facebook, and Myspace in the last few years.”

According to Ramirez, FTC settlements with Google, Facebook, and Myspace “protect over a billion users worldwide, hundreds of millions of whom reside in Europe.” She noted that these settlements demonstrate that, “in the FTC’s hands, Safe Harbor is an effective and functioning tool for the protection of the privacy of EU citizens’ data transferred to the United States.” Ramirez pledged to continue to make Safe Harbor a top enforcement priority.

News: Privacy ConsumerProtection FederalTradeCommissionNews