Enforcement - Safe Harbor, v1.0

Defines privacy requirements related to the enforcement of Safe Harbor Privacy Principles.

Assessment Step

1
Enforcement - Safe Harbor (Enforcement-SafeHarbor)
In order to ensure compliance with the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles does the organization require that there must be (a) readily available and affordable independent recourse mechanisms so that each individual's complaints and disputes can be investigated and resolved and damages awarded where the applicable law or private sector initiatives so provide; (b) procedures for verifying that the commitments companies make to adhere to the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles have been implemented; and (c) obligations to remedy problems arising out of a failure to comply with the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles. Sanctions must be sufficiently rigorous to ensure compliance by the organization. Organizations that fail to provide annual self-certification letters reaffirming their commitment to the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework and/or the U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework will no longer be assured of the relevant Safe Harbor benefits and may ultimately be removed from the list of participants maintained on the Safe Harbor website. Effective privacy protection must include mechanisms for assuring compliance with the Principles, recourse for individuals to whom the data relate affected by non-compliance with the Principles, and consequences for the organization when the Principles are not followed at a minimum, such mechanisms must include (a) readily available and affordable independent recourse mechanisms by which each individual's complaints and disputes are investigated and resolved by reference to the Principles and damages awarded where the applicable law or private sector initiatives so provide; (b) follow up procedures for verifying that the attestations and assertions businesses make about their privacy practices are true and that privacy practices have been implemented as presented; and (c) obligations to remedy problems arising out of failure to comply with the Principles by organizations announcing their adherence to them and consequences for such organizations. Sanctions must be sufficiently rigorous to ensure compliance by organizations?
Artifact
A1
Provide evidence (e.g. organizational policies, procedures, compliance/assessment reports, etc.) that support the assessor's response to this assessment step.

Conformance Criteria (1)

C-1
In order to ensure compliance with the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles, there must be (a) readily available and affordable independent recourse mechanisms so that each individual's complaints and disputes can be investigated and resolved and damages awarded where the applicable law or private sector initiatives so provide; (b) procedures for verifying that the commitments companies make to adhere to the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles have been implemented; and (c) obligations to remedy problems arising out of a failure to comply with the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles. Sanctions must be sufficiently rigorous to ensure compliance by the organization. Organizations that fail to provide annual self-certification letters reaffirming their commitment to the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework and/or the U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework will no longer be assured of the relevant Safe Harbor benefits and may ultimately be removed from the list of participants maintained on the Safe Harbor website. Effective privacy protection must include mechanisms for assuring compliance with the Principles, recourse for individuals to whom the data relate affected by non-compliance with the Principles, and consequences for the organization when the Principles are not followed. At a minimum, such mechanisms must include (a) readily available and affordable independent recourse mechanisms by which each individual's complaints and disputes are investigated and resolved by reference to the Principles and damages awarded where the applicable law or private sector initiatives so provide; (b) follow up procedures for verifying that the attestations and assertions businesses make about their privacy practices are true and that privacy practices have been implemented as presented; and (c) obligations to remedy problems arising out of failure to comply with the Principles by organizations announcing their adherence to them and consequences for such organizations. Sanctions must be sufficiently rigorous to ensure compliance by organizations.
Citation
SAFE-HARBOR
Enforcement