US-EU clash over privacy protection can be avoidedUS-EU clash over privacy protection can be avoided

Geneva, 24 September 1998 – Business today offered the European Union a way out of a looming dispute with the United States over the international transfer of personal information over electronic networks.

Less than a month before an EU directive to safeguard the privacy rights of European citizens comes into force, the International Chamber of Commerce issued a set of model clauses for contracts involving transborder data flows.

ICC is urging the European Commission to accept that the clauses offer adequate privacy protection for data exported by European exporters to the United States.

An introduction to the model clauses says: "The clauses create powerful and practical safeguards to protect privacy and fundamental rights of individuals where their data is transferred to countries that are deemed not to have an adequate regime for the protection of personal data."

Presenting the model clauses at a news conference, ICC e-commerce expert Christiaan Van der Valk said: "Once they are incorporated in a contract, the clauses become fully enforceable for the contracting parties. We are convinced they offer a solution that could avert any serious interruption of transatlantic data flows."

"The clauses are based on the experience of international companies which have been exporting personal data for many years. They are a cost-effective means to fulfill legal obligations under the EU directive," Mr Van der Valk said.

At the news conference, ICC gave a preview of a broad self-regulatory programme for e-commerce that leading business organizations will present to governments in Ottawa on October 7. The conference, "A Borderlesss World", has been convened by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Mr Van der Valk said: "Business wants government regulation to be kept to a minimum. When it is unavoidable, it should be internationally harmonized and coordinated. The Internet will never fulfill its promise if every country or region tries to impose its own laws unilaterally."

Business would like to see governments concentrate on providing consistent basic legal guarantees for effective global enforcement of essential rights in e-commerce, for instance protection of intellectual property.

The news conference took place during the "The ICC Geneva Business Dialogue", at which major companies and international organizations debated social and economic issues raised by globalization.

ICC has almost 80 years experience in creating voluntary rules and standards for the conduct of trade. Its standard trade definitions, Incoterms, are referred to every day in countless thousands of cross-border transactions. It makes the rules governing letters of credit that are used by banks all over the world to finance trade.