EU officials warned to be careful about email content

According to EUObserver.com, new rules on public access to EU documents have prompted one of the European Commission's key departments to circulate a memo warning officials to be careful about what they write in emails and advising them on how to narrowly interpret requests for information.

The 15-page handbook was circulated in January to officials working in the commission directorate for trade, one of the EU's most important policy areas affecting millions of people both within and beyond the bloc.

It reminds DG trade employees that all documents, including emails, are "in principle subject to disclosure" and asks them to think of the regulation when they are producing documents.

"Each official must be aware that all his/her documents, including meeting reports and e-mails can potentially be disclosed. You should keep this in mind when writing such documents.

This is particularly the case for meeting reports and emails with third parties (e.g. industry), which are favourite "targets" of requests for access to documents, especially by NGOs," reads the memo.

Continue reading here: http://euobserver.com/9/27935/?rk=1

Storing EU Customer Data in the U.S. is Legal

From ARMA's InformationOverload blog:

Nikki Sandison reported for Marketing Direct, "The European Commission has confirmed that it is legal under EU data protection law to store customer data in the US - as long as a Safe Harbor certification is in place. European organisations and companies have been concerned about the US's Patriot Act, which grants federal officials the right to inspect any data stored in the U.S. if it relates to a national security investigation." However, "The issue is not simply with the Patriot Act but that the concern was that 'companies within the EU could collect personal data about individuals and export this data to countries outside of the EU having lesser standards of data protection, using this as a means to circumvent EU data/protection requirements,'' this article said, quoting Phil Lee, senior solicitor at Osbourne Clarke's data privacy team.

Hey there! ARMA_INT is using Twitter

ARMA International is on Twitter @ARMA_INT (Come see what all the buzz is about!)

Airbus admits to spying on staff

Aircraft maker Airbus has admitted to spying on its staff in an attempt to uncover potential corruption. Airbus ordered checks on all staff working in Germany from 2005 to 2007, the company acknowledged. The checks were to see if workers' bank account numbers matched those of suppliers. No wrongdoing was found.

The head of Germany's national rail operator Deutsche Bahn resigned this week after the company also admitted to spying on thousands of its employees. The Airbus checks, which were ordered by former management at the company's German business, emerged in an audit launched by current management. "At that time, an internal comparison of data was regarded as being legally permissible," Airbus said.

Get the full article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7978713.stm

ARMA International Challenges Organizations to Implement Better Recordkeeping - Announcing the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping PrinciplesSM

Records are the foundation of compliance and the key to success for organizations – big or small, public or private – in any industry. Litigation professionals, too, are becoming painfully aware of the need to manage e-mail at an organizational level in order to mitigate risk during the legal discovery process. Businesses are also coming to realize greater efficiency and cost savings due to better information management. As a result, recordkeeping best practices have become a process and skill needed by not only records professionals, but by every employee.

Due to the exponentially expanding volume of information available and the pressing need to manage information correctly, ARMA International is pleased to announce a set of Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles (GARP) SM.

Through these principles, ARMA International provides a framework for guidance in implementing information management programs to help business leaders, legislators, the judiciary, and other stakeholders understand and address the key components of records and information management as a discipline and as a best business practice. The principles were developed from related information management legislation, the combined experiences of the task force members, applicable ARMA International, ANSI, and ISO standards, the recommendations of ARMA International’s more than 11,000 professional practitioners, and case law.

Each of the eight principles has an expanded description containing detailed information on how to ensure organizations are meeting the criteria for a sound information management program. These descriptions, as well as other information on the principles, can be found at www.arma.org/garp.

The eight Generally Accepted Recordkeeping PrinciplesSM are:
Accountability
Integrity
Protection
Compliance
Availability
Retention
Disposition
Transparency

Using these generally accepted principles as a guide helps to ensure that the company’s most important assets, their records, are used correctly to support the organization’s essential activities such as budgeting, planning, demonstrating compliance with laws and regulations, and other day-to-day operations.

A task force was initially formed to help encapsulate these principles. It was comprised of a multi-disciplined group of widely respected professional practitioners at the highest levels of their professions. ARMA International members and non-member stakeholders then reviewed the proposed principles and submitted comments that were taken back to a task force for review and consideration. This same task force will continue to monitor legislation and case law and will recommend changes to the principles when appropriate. The principles have been approved by the ARMA International Board of Directors.

For more information about the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping PrinciplesSM or ARMA International, please visit www.arma.org.

Cheaper and easier EU trade mark protection

The fees for EU-wide trade mark rights are to be reduced by 40% from 1 May 2009, saving businesses some €60 million a year, and the registration procedure will also be simplified. Instead of paying €1750 for the application and registration of a Community trade mark, businesses will be charged only an application fee of €1050 in future. Those who file their applications via the Internet will benefit from a greater reduction and will be charged merely an application fee of €900 in place of the total amount of €1600 to be paid at present. This means that in future businesses will pay 40% less for obtaining a Community trade mark – and as much as 44% less when using electronic means. The fee reduction and simplification of procedure essentially consist in setting the registration fee for Community trade marks to zero. Businesses will therefore pay only an application fee, and will no longer have to pay a separate fee for registration. As a result, the processing time for the registration of a Community trade mark will also become significantly shorter. In addition, the individual fee for international trade mark applications and registrations designating the European Community under the Madrid Protocol will go down from €1450 to €870, which also corresponds to a 40% decrease.The EU agency responsible for registering trade marks and designs that are valid in all 27 Member States is OHIM, the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, located in Alicante, Spain.
More information

EU must get tough on data protection says commissioner

EU consumer protection commissioner Meglena Kuneva has issued a "get tough" message over data protection issues.

Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, she said her hardline comments should be seen as a last chance warning to the industry to clean up its act.

She told an audience there was a "much-needed" debate on the increasing ability to profile consumers and then use their details for commercial purposes.

Research showed that young people - "the most confident of internet users" - use the internet in spite of the fact that they generally do not trust it, she said.

She told the meeting, "Let me be very clear from the start [that] I believe the internet and the new generation of digital communications offer immense possibilities to consumers."The regulatory protection we have in Europe is extensive and far-reaching [although] there is a huge task ahead of us in terms of enforcement of the rules.

"The Bulgarian official predicted that "behavioural targeting" online "become increasingly pervasive and consumers understandably feel uncomfortable".

"Today, I want to send a very clear message to those involved in all aspects of the digital world - consumer rights must adapt to technology, not be crushed by it," she added.

"The current situation with regard to privacy, profiling and targeting is not satisfactory."Kuneva added, "It is regulators that bear the ultimate responsibility of ensuring markets work well and develop their greatest potential with the interest of citizens at heart.

"I want to send a warning signal that we cannot afford foot dragging in this area. If we fail to see an adequate response to consumers' concerns on the issue of data collection and profiling, as a regulator, we will not shy away from out duties nor wait for a cataclysm to wake us up.

"The commissioner was the keynote speaker at a roundtable debate in Brussels on the issue of online data collection and profiling.

Kuneva later appeared before a conference in parliament on "EU consumer protection policies - market or regulation?" The event, co-hosted by ALDE MEP Silvana Koch- Mehrin, focused on the expansion of consumer protection rules.

Source: TheParliament.com