Computer maker Gateway has joined the Safe Harbor agreement, a scheme which is designed to bring US companies in line with European data protection requirements. EU law lays down a prohibition on transfers of personal data from member states to third parties in countries which do not satisfy EU privacy standards – including the US. To overcome this commercial inconvenience, organisations which want to transfer data from Europe to the US can voluntarily subscribe to the principles laid down in the agreement.

A Gateway spokesman said that his company had previously held all EU data within the territory itself. It was, said the spokesman, the decision to move Gateway’s EU data to the US that prompted the company to join the agreement as a safeguard.

The agreement has, as yet, been entered into by only 120 companies. Those that have chosen not to participate could find themselves subject to enforcement actions if their privacy practices are found to be insufficient under EU law.

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