I have been hearing from many US companies that some list owners and
list brokers are alleging that "it is now illegal" to permit lists of
customers to go the US. In addition, UK data processing companies are
approaching UK clients of US data processing firms and alleging the same
thing as part of their sales pitches. My understanding, which we would
like to express to our membership, is that it is still perfectly legal
under both the 1995 Directive and the UK law for mailing lists to go to
the US for both processing and enhancement, and for use by mailers. For
one, the UK Data Protection Act is not scheduled to come into effect
until 1 March 2000, and for two, the European Commission has declared a
moratorium on blocking data flows to the US pending the negotiations of
the Safe Harbor guidelines. We would like to prepare a guidance note for
our membership on this issue, naturally urging that they obtain
representations from their list sources that the names on lists have
received notice that they may suppress their data and opt-out of the
marketing system, and that the lists have been cleaned against the UK
Mail Preference list. In addition, our own Ethical Code on privacy
(called the Privacy Promise), which is now obligatory for all marketers
on pain of expulsion from the Association, requires that mailers give
notice of opt-out rights in their promotions and that they run their
files against the US mail preference service list. I anticipate also
that there may be an insistence on the part of UK list suppliers that US
list rental customers warrant that the lists will be used solely for the
agreed mailing program, be kept under tight security, not transferred to
any third party, and that the US company will respond to access and
suppression requests by UK individuals, none of which is problematic as
it reflects current business custom and practice.
In the near future, we hope to have in place model contractual clauses
emanating from CBI or ICC to also help resolve the situation and assure
data is protected, with or without a Safe Harbor.
I would welcome any observations from the members of this List as to
the various allegations being made in the UK, and our anticipated course
of action.
--
Charles A. Prescott
Vice President, International Business Development
and Government Affairs
Direct Marketing Association
1120 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
U.S.A.
Tel. (1) 212-790-1552
Fax. (1) 212-790-1499
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
website: www.the-dma.org
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