Safe Harbor: More Stringent Requirements for the Transfer

Originally published June 17, 2010

Keywords: German companies, transfer of personal data, USA, Federal Data Protection Act, data transfer

When German companies transfer personal data to companies outside the EU then they have to fulfill the stringent requirements of the Federal Data Protection Act. Therefore, in order to ensure a permissible data transfer they must regularly take measures in order to ensure an adequate data protection level by the recipient. The application of the Safe Harbor-principles is one of these measures.

The supervisory authorities responsible for data protection have now stated new requirements for the transfer of personal data, which have quite substantial consequences for those companies doing business in Germany which send data to the USA. Therefore, these companies must be prepared for the fact that the transfer of data on the basis of the Safe Harbor Agreement is only permissible now under stricter requirements – and that the