Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (“ITA”) will host a data privacy seminar in Providence, Rhode Island, on Thursday, July 18 from 8:30 – 11:00 a.m. EDT. Seminar participants will hear from Commerce privacy experts who will discuss the Obama Administration’s privacy blueprint and provide updates on significant international developments, including the U.S.-EU and U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Frameworks and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (“APEC”) group’s work to implement the Cross-Border Privacy Rules System. These privacy developments could have a significant impact on how companies comply with laws and privacy regulations in the United States, Asia and Europe. A representative from the Safe Harbor-certified company Textron Inc. (“Textron”) also will discuss the company’s experience developing and implementing a privacy compliance program.

The seminar will feature:

• Caitlin Fennessy, who leads ITA’s work on European and Latin American privacy policy issues, discussing the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation and implementation of the APEC Cross-Border Privacy Rules System.
• Christopher Hoff, Co-Administrator of the U.S.-EU and U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Frameworks, providing an overview of the White House Privacy Blueprint and Safe Harbor mechanisms for complying with EU and Swiss data protection regulations.
• Jennifer Lippman, Assistant General Counsel-Employment at Textron, discussing data privacy from the perspective of a global company with a focus on how Textron has developed and implemented its data privacy compliance program.