Privacy

By Steve Gold, Newsbytes

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM After several months of apparent confusion, a data
standards group funded by the European Union is looking at the case
for standardization between member countries of the EU on personal
data protection issues.

James Boyd is strategy manager for piloted by the European Committee
for Standardization Information Society Standardization System
(CEN/ISSS). He told Newsbytes that, while the EU Directive on Personal
Data Protection (reference 95/46/EC) and various EU country laws on
personal data exist, there is still a need for standardization between
the laws of the countries concerned.

"For this reason, CEN/ISSS has been looking at the issues involved and
how best to approach the standardization," he said, adding that the
body will be coming up with its recommendations in due course.

At the moment, Boyd said, companies in EU member countries should turn
to their local country Data Protection Registrar for advice on how to
comply with the new EU directive on personal data.

"We're not equipped to deal with such enquires yet, but the aim of the
project is to look at how the various country laws can be standardized
and how best to go about this," he said.

CEN/ISSS says that one of the objectives of the European Commission's
E-Europe initiative is to ensure that different practices in data
protection do not create barriers to efficient trade.

Business, and all market players, it argues, need trustworthy and
widely available tools to fulfill their privacy and data protection
obligations.

John Ketchell, CEN/ISSS' director, said that the group, which includes
representatives from many of Europe's stakeholders, will be producing
a report on the Initiative for Privacy Standardization in Europe
(IPSE) for full public consultation towards the end of April.

Stephanie Perrin, Chief Privacy Officer for Zero Knowledge Systems,
has been selected to lead the IPSE project team.

Based in Montreal, Perrin was previously director of privacy policy at
Industry Canada, and responsible for drafting Canadian privacy
legislation based on the national standard.

Perrin said that the issue of privacy and the need to address it in
the context of global information systems is now number one in the
minds of consumers, governments and industry.

"The project team is looking forward to presenting our report and
stimulating public debate on this subject," she said.

CEN/ISSS' Web site is at http://www.cenorm.be/isss .

Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com .