DuPont Granted Certification by U.S. Department of Commerce Safe Harbor Program

DuPont was recently granted certification by the U.S. Department of Commerce Safe Harbor program for its efforts to safeguard employee personal information.

In 1998, the European Commission’s Directive on Data Protection went into effect, which prohibits the transfer of personal data of its citizens to non-European Union (EU) countries that do not meet the “adequacy” standard for privacy protection. Currently, the U.S. has not been considered “adequate” by the EU, even though the U.S. and EU share the goal of enhancing privacy protection for their citizens.

To bridge these different privacy approaches and provide a streamlined means for U.S.-based companies and organizations to comply with the EU’s Directive, the U.S. Department of Commerce in consultation with the European Commission developed a “Safe Harbor” framework.

Similarly, the U.S. Department of Commerce in consultation with the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner of Switzerland developed a “Safe Harbor” framework to bridge the differences between the two countries’ privacy approaches and provide a streamlined means for U.S. organizations to comply with the Swiss data protection law.

“The Safe Harbor Framework offers DuPont a faster, simpler and cost-effective means of complying with the adequacy requirements of the EU Data Protection Directive,” said Catherine Hackney, DuPont global privacy leader. “It also aligns with the company’s Information Technology infrastructure strategy and simplification plans.”

“We are pleased to achieve certification under the Safe Harbor framework,” said Maritz Poza-Grise, vice president, Human Resources. “Protecting what matters most extends to our employees’ personal information, and through our work, we are ensuring that the collection and processing of personal information is performed in compliance with the Safe Harbor Principles.”

DuPont’s certification covers the use of the personal data of its employees who are citizens of the EU. DuPont intends to reaffirm its commitment to the Safe Harbor framework annually.