EU, US Officials Say They're Getting Closer On Privacy

Top privacy regulators agreed that the United States and the European Union are moving closer in their approaches to protecting consumer privacy. But they still remain at odds over whether a U.S. national law is needed to ensure companies follow widely agreed upon privacy principles.

During a discussion on the US and European approaches to privacy protection at the International Association of Privacy Professionals conference, EU Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx agreed with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz that the two sides are moving closer but noted one key difference remains: the Unites States still lacks a broad privacy protection law. "I see more convergence than divergence," Chairman Leibowitz said. The European Commission is currently in the process of reviewing its broad privacy framework, which includes the EU's 1998 data protection law. Hustinx said among the issues it plans to address include trying to reduce the "diversity" in how the law is applied among the EU's 27 member countries and ways to make the privacy law more effective.