Brussels, 13/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Republic majority in the American Congress reiterated, last week, to an EU delegation its hostility towards the 1998 Directive on data protection. Billy Tauzin, President of the Trade and Consumer Protection Sub-Committee, stated that the European Directive leads to the imposition of one of the most significant barriers to the freedom of trade ever seen. This Directive allows the Member States to suspend the transfer of data towards third countries whose level of data protection is considered inadequate. The "safe harbor" arrangement concluded between the United States and Europe in March 2000 (see EUROPE of 15 March 2000) should, in principal, put an end to the quarrel, by allowing American companies that adhere to the agreement, see themselves recognised as fulfilling sufficient conditions to ensure "suitable protection" in the eyes of the Europeans and to continue receiving EU information. To this day, only 26 American companies are members of this agreement. The divergence between the United Sates and Europe has its roots in the different legal approaches: in the case of data protection on the Internet, the Europeans prefer to act through the legislative path, while the Americans prefer self-regulation.