O’Neil Software has attained EU Safe Harbor Certification for its products giving its customers assurance that personally identifiable information (PII) is being managed with appropriate privacy protection.
The Safe Harbor Privacy Principles were established for US companies that do business within the EU to meet the European ‘adequacy’ standard for privacy protection.
“The decision to pursue EU Safe Harbor Certification has been a natural progression, given our dedication to the data security and service of our clients,” said Ian Thomas, Executive Vice-President of O’Neil.
When the European Commission’s Directive on Data Protection went into effect in October of 1998, one consequence was to prohibit the transfer of personal data to non-European Union nations that failed to meet the European “adequacy” standard for privacy protection. Therefore, companies, like O’Neil, who are certified under the Safe Harbor Framework, are allowed to receive personal data from EU countries.
O’Neil attained the US-EU Safe Harbor status through its participation in the TRUSTe privacy program for TRUSTed Cloud Data, which provides professional services for privacy certification and third-party dispute resolution. O’Neil has also earned the TRUSTe Certified Privacy Seal awarded only to companies that complete TRUSTe certification, submit to ongoing site monitoring and participate in the TRUST consumer privacy dispute resolution program.