The European Commission’s revised data protection framework proposals include provisions intended to encourage the use of data protection privacy seals, certification mechanisms and trust marks.  These provisions would allow data subjects to instantly assess the privacy standards applied by data controllers and processors, thereby providing the comfort that data subjects often seek.  The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”) supports the use of privacy seals and has issued an online survey to gather feedback on how privacy seals may be used to improve data protection compliance and customer privacy awareness.