At the end of September, VeraSafe filed its first annual report for the VeraSafe Privacy Shield and Safe Harbor Dispute Resolution Program with the U.S. Department of Commerce, officially marking the end of a successful first year as an official independent recourse mechanism (IRM) under the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Frameworks (“Privacy Shield”). Formerly offered under the now-defunct Safe Harbor Principles, VeraSafe has redesigned its Dispute Resolution Program to meet and exceed the requirements of Safe Harbor’s successor program, Privacy Shield. VeraSafe’s new Dispute Resolution Program provides a first-class dispute resolution option for organizations that are seeking to fulfill their obligations as Privacy Shield participants and offer their customers an unbiased, professionally staffed forum for the amicable mediation of privacy-related complaints.
In their first annual joint review of the Privacy Shield, conducted in October, the Department of Commerce and the European Commission concluded that the Privacy Shield Frameworks remain an effective, useful tool for cross-border data flows between the United States and the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. The Department of Commerce and the European Commission continue to work closely together to administer and improve the program as participation in Privacy Shield continues to grow.
The upcoming effective date of the General Data Regulation of the European Union (GDPR) only increases the utility of Privacy Shield for organizations transferring personal data from Europe to the U.S. Privacy Shield represents a straightforward, enduring choice among the available GDPR-compliant cross-border data transfer mechanisms.
To read VeraSafe’s annual report and to learn more about the VeraSafe Privacy Program, the Privacy Shield, and the GDPR, click here: https://verasafe.com/pdf/verasafe-privacy-shield-dispute-resolution-program-annual-procedure-report-2016-2017.pdf
To enroll in the VeraSafe Privacy Shield Dispute Resolution Program, click here: https://verasafe.com/privacy-services/dispute-resolution/enroll/
