Type Clase Contrat type et guide de r daction Model contract with users s guide Modelo de contrato con gu as de redacci n Source Procedencia Union europ enne European Union Uni n Europea Rue de la Loi 200 Bruxelles 1000 Belgique Date de publication Date of publication Fecha de publicaci n 15 06 2001 T l Tel 32 02 299 11 11 Web www europa eu int Avertissement Les contrats et guides de la pr sente collection ont t s lectionn s seule fin d illustration Leur contenu et leur utilisation n engagent pas la responsabilit de Juris International Please note The contracts and guides contained in the present collection have been selected for illustrative purposes only Juris International shall not be liable for their contents or use Advertencia Los contratos y las gu as de la presente colecci n han sido seleccionados nicamente a manera de ilustraci n Su contenido y utilizaci n no compromenten la responsabilidad de Juris internacional 4 7 2001 EN Official Journal of the European Communities II Acts whose publication is not obligatory COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 15 June 2001 on standard contractual clauses for the transfer of personal data to third countries under Directive 95 46 EC notified under document number C 2001 1539 Text with EEA relevance 2001 497 EC THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community Having regard to Directive 95 46 EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data 1 and in particular Article 26 4 thereof Whereas 1 Pursuant to Directive 95 46 EC Member States are required to provide that a transfer of personal data to a third country may only take place if the third country in question ensures an adequate level of data protection and the Member States laws which comply with the other provisions of the Directive are respected prior to the transfer 2 However Article 26 2 of Directive 95 46 EC provides that Member States may authorise subject to certain safeguards a transfer or a set of transfers of personal data to third countries which do not ensure an adequate level of protection Such safeguards may in particular result from appropriate contractual clauses 3 Pursuant to Directive 95 46 EC the level of data protection should be assessed in the light of all the circumstances surrounding the data transfer operation or set of data transfer operations The Working Party on Protection of Individuals with regard to the processing of personal data established under that Directive 2 has issued guidelines to aid with the assessment 3 1 OJ L 281 23 11 1995 p 31 2 The Internet address of the Working Party is http www europa eu intlcomm internal market en medial dataprot wpdocs index htm 3 WP 4 5020 97 First orientations on transfers of personal data to third countries working document possible ways forward in assessing adequacy a discussion document adopted by the Working Party on 26 June 1997 WP 7 5057 97 Judging industry self regulation when does it make a meaningful contribution to the level of data protection in a third country working document adopted by the Working Party on 14 January 1998 WP 9 3005 98 Preliminary views on the use of contractual provisions in the context of transfers of personal data to third countries working document adopted by the Working Party on 22 April 1998 WP 12 Transfers of personal data to third countries applying Articles 25 and 26 of the EU data protection directive working document adopted by the Working Party on 24 July 1998 available in the web working document site europa eu int comm internal markt en media dataprot wpdocs wp12 en hosted by the European Commission L 181 19 L 181 20 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 4 Article 26 2 of Directive 95 46 EC which provides flexibility for an organisation wishing to transfer data to third countries and Article 26 4 which provides for standard contractual clauses are essential for maintaining the necessary flow of personal data between the Community and third countries without unnecessary burdens for economic operators Those Articles are particularly important in view of the fact that the Commission is unlikely to adopt adequacy findings under Article 25 6 for more than a limited number of countries in the short or even medium term 5 The standard contractual clauses are only one of several possibilities under Directive 95 46 EC together with Article 25 and Article 26 1 and 2 for lawfully transferring personal data to a third country It will be easier for organisations to transfer personal data to third countries by incorporating the standard contractual clauses in a contract The standard contractual clauses relate only to data protection The data exporter and the data importer are free to include any other clauses on business related issues such as clauses on mutual assistance in cases of disputes with a data subject or a supervisory authority which they consider as being pertinent for the contract as long as they do not contradict the standard contractual clauses 6 This Decision should be without prejudice to national authorisations Member States may grant in accordance with national provisions implementing Article 26 2 of Directive 95 46 EC The circumstances of specific transfers may require that data controllers provide different safeguards within the meaning of Article 26 2 In any case this Decision only has the effect of requiring the Member States not to refuse to recognise as providing adequate safeguards the contractual clauses described in it and does not therefore have any effect on other contractual clauses 7 The scope of this Decision is limited to establishing that the clauses in the Annex may be used by a controller established in the Community in order to adduce sufficient safeguards within the meaning of Article 26 2 of Directive 95 46 EC The transfer of personal data to third countries is a processing operation in a Member State the lawfulness of which is subject to national law The data protection supervisory authorities of the Member States in the exercise of their functions and powers under Article 28 of Directive 95 46 EC should remain competent to assess whether the data exporter has complied with national legislation implementing the provisions of Directive 95 46 EC and in particular any specific rules as regards the obligation of providing information under that
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