Israel has formally joined the list of seven countries whose data protection laws are considered strong enough for companies there to receive and process personal data from companies in the European Union.

The European Commission has formalised a decision taken last October to deem Israel's data protection laws 'adequate' for the purposes of the Data Protection Directive.

That Directive prevents personal data being sent out of the EU unless to a country whose laws give it the same protection as it would have in the EU. Israel now joins six other countries with that status.

They are Switzerland, Argentina, the Bailiwick of Guernsey, the Isle of Man, the Bailiwick of Jersey and Canada, as long as the recipient of the information is subject to the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

Data can be sent to organisations in the US if they subscribe to the US Department of Commerce's Safe Harbor Privacy Principles.

The decision to approve Israel's data protection laws was made for the Commission by its Vice President Viviane Reding.

See: The decision (4-page / 718KB PDF)

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