Brussels, 21/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - On Monday and Tuesday in Brussels, the Commission and the United States are continuing their talks on the protection of personal data on the Internet. These new discussions take place directly between the US under-secretary for Trade, David Aaron, and Internal Market Director General, John Mogg.
Both parties recently recalled their determination to reach an agreement before the end of the month of March. According to sources close to the Commission, there is already an agreement on the principles, while several details remain to be settled, concerning, among other things, the forced application of rules which would be imposed on companies regarding data protection. The scope of application is also debatable in so far as the United States would like to extend it to financial services in compliance with a legislation adopted in the US in the autumn.
The European directive on data protection allows EU national authorities to suspend the transfer of data to third countries whose level of protection for such data is considered inadequate. On the other hand, the American approach gives preference to self-regulation. The Administration undertakes to respect certain data protection principles. The aim of the negotiations is to have the American provisions recognised in the EU as sufficient for meeting the requirements of the European directive.