Brussels, 22/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - After two days of negotiations, the European Commission and the United States have not yet ironed out their differences regarding the protection of personal data. They have, however, made substantial progress. American Undersecretary of State for Trade, David Aaron told EUROPE that he was very pleased with the talks, and "that an agreement is on track, even it still needs approving by a good number of people". For the Commission's "Internal Market" Director General, John Mogg, both parties are progressing towards a "balanced whole, and not an agreement on isolated parts". According to him, breakthroughs have been achieved on the applicability of the rules of protection, the reliability of the lists of the American Department of Trade, on the basis of "Safe Harbours", on the list of sanctions and on the way in which to integrate the American rules of private life
The debate above concerns the development of electronic commerce. American companies are calling for as free as possible movement of data voluntarily provided over the Internet in the framework of a commercial report. European consumer protection associations, on the other hand, denounce the possible violation of private life, regarding, for example, inclusion of private medical or financial data. The aim remains to be to reach agreement by the end of March.