A new Act of Parliament gives the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) the authority to impose monetary penalties for misuse of personal data in violation of section 55 of the Data Protection Act of 1998 (DPA).
European Union
EU Data Protection Watchdog Supports Data Breach Notification Law
By Jeremy M. Mittman on
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has come out in favor of the EU enacting data security breach notification laws.
The EDPS is an independent supervisory authority devoted to protecting personal data and privacy and promoting good data protection practices within the EU, both by monitoring the EU administration’s own data processing, as well as by commenting on pending legislation.
European Commission Data Protection Working Party Issues Opinion on Search Engine Data Protection
By S. Montaye Sigmon on
The European Commission Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (“Working Party”) recently released its opinion on data protection issues related to search engines. The opinion specifically addresses the applicability of the Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC) and the Data Retention Directive (2006/24/EC) to the processing of personal data by search engines.
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First Subsidiary of a U.S. Based Multinational Company Fined for Data Protection Violations in France
By Jeremy M. Mittman on
Last month the French subsidiary of the U.S. based company, Tyco Healthcare, became the first local branch of a U.S. company to be fined for data protection violations. France’s data protection agency, La Commission Nationale de L’informatique et des Libertes (CNIL) levied a fine of 30,000 euro (or about $40,350) against the company after it both ignored CNIL’s requests for clarification about one of its human resource databases and then made misrepresentations concerning the database to the regulatory agency.
EU Working Party Adopts Model Application Form for Binding Corporate Rules
By Jeremy M. Mittman on
On January 10, 2007 the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party announced the adoption of a new Model Application for the submission of a company’s Binding Corporate Rules to any European Union Data Protection Authority (DPA). The EU’s approval of the Model Application is long-awaited and a welcome addition to help make Binding Corporate Rules a truly viable alternative to the two other current approved methods of international data protection transfers, safe harbor and model contractual clauses.