[10501]
November 20, 1998
TO: INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE No. 35-98
SEC RULES COMMITTEE No. 119-98
ELECTRONIC COMMERCE ISSUES WORKING GROUP
RE: INSTITUTE SUBMITS COMMENT LETTER ON DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
PRIVACY PRINCIPLES
______________________________________________________________________________
On November 19, the Institute submitted a comment letter on proposed privacy principles
developed by the Department of Commerce. Copies of the Institute's comment letter and the Commerce
Department principles are attached.
The proposed Commerce Department principles will form the basis for discussions with the
European Union over a safe harbor for US companies from the EU Privacy Directive. The Privacy
Directive, which took effect on October 25, has the potential to disrupt flows of data from the EU to the
US.
In its letter, the Institute strongly urged that an organization should qualify for the safe harbor on
the basis of requirements established by its regulator with respect to the protection of personal
information privacy for that industry. This should be the case even if the requirements do not precisely
mirror each of the seven specific principles outlined in Commerce’s draft of the safe harbor.
The Institute also participated in drafting a comment letter submitted by the Coalition of Service
Industries that provided more specific comments on the proposed wording of the safe harbor principles.
The Institute is a member of CSI. A copy of CSI's comment letter also is attached.
Robert C. Grohowski
Assistant Counsel
Attachments