Google Apps To Ease Compliance With EU Privacy Regulations

Google has announced new application features aimed at business customers and designed to ease compliance with EU data protection rules.

Very soon, Google Apps will offer model contract clauses – agreements between the customer and the provider outlining how the latter will handle data. These will act as an additional means of meeting guidelines set out by the European Commission on the exchange of customers’ personal information between EU members and other countries.

Safety first

According to Google, over four million businesses use its Apps for enterprise. The new features will make it easier for these customers to meet the “adequacy and security requirements” of the Data Protection Directive.

The Directive governs the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data, and on the movement of such data within the European Union. It also restricts import of personal data into countries that do not meet EU standards for privacy protection.

Many international businesses considered the Directive too prohibitive, and in 2010, the European Commission approved model contract clauses to facilitate the exchange of information between EU and non-EU countries, as long as certain conditions are met.

By adopting these model contract clauses, Google is offering customers an additional option for compliance with the Directive.

“Google’s adoption of model contract clauses, along with our continued participation in the US-EU Safe Harbor Framework and our recent ISO 27001 certification, will provide our customers with an even wider palette of EU regulatory compliance options,” said Marc Crandall, senior manager of global compliance at Google Enterprise.

The news comes just days after Google announced the acquisition of Quickoffice, in a bid to boost its Apps offering.

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