While I was attending the PayPal X conference in SF last week, eBay enjoyed a fairly significant achievement over in Europe. Specifically, 14 EU data protection authorities approved eBay’s privacy standards and procedures.
In a nutshell, as of last Thursday, Luxembourg’s National Data Protection Commission (CNPD) has formally approved eBay’s binding corporate rules (BCRs) for privacy compliance for both customers and employees. The data protection authorities in the other 13 EU Member States where eBay operates have also accepted the CNPD’s findings and assessment, under a mutual recognition procedure.
eBay’s approval represents a number of firsts:
• eBay is the first eCommerce company to receive this approval;
• It is the first time a company has received approval for both employee and customer BCRs in less than 12 months time;
• It is the first BCR approval led by the Luxembourg DPA.
“We are excited to have met this major European data privacy milestone and to have been the first eCommerce company to do so. We are delighted at this recognition of our commitment to high privacy standards for our employees and customers,” said Scott Shipman, the Global Privacy Leader for eBay Inc. “Data protection and privacy remains a key focus for eBay Inc. as we continue to foster users’ trust in our online platforms. The cooperation and communication eBay received from the CNPD and the other DPAs was greatly appreciated and made the project a success.”
About BCRs
BCRs are strict rules and procedures that ensure a consistent and high standard of protection for individuals’ privacy. The approval means that all the data protection authorities are satisfied that the eBay Inc. group BCRs provide an adequate level of protection for eBay customers and employees, in relation to the processing of personal data and personal information transferred by eBay Inc. group members.
The President of the CNPD, Gerard Lommel stated, “We were very pleased with the exceptional work provided by eBay, by the quality of the documents elaborated and by the constructive dialogue in the process of validation and implementation of eBay’s binding corporate rules, and are proud to have brought the international coordination procedure to a successful end.”
Although trust and safety might not seem as sexy as say, the next mobile app for iPhone, this news does stand as another clear endorsement of eBay’s efforts with regard to online privacy. Had to share.
Cheers,
RBH