Silicon Valley analytics software firm FICO today announced that it has been accepted into the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield program, which requires FICO to agree to comply with EU data protection requirements when transferring personal data from the European Union to the United States. Effective December 7, 2016, this voluntary self-certification declares FICO’s cooperation with the privacy program adopted jointly by the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“Joining the Privacy Shield further demonstrates our commitment to respecting the privacy of our clients and their customers,” said Vance Gudmundsen, regulatory counsel and privacy officer at FICO. “As a provider of powerful predictive analytics, we fully recognise the critical importance of data protection. Our clients can be confident that their information is handled in strict compliance with the Privacy Shield principles.”
FICO’s participation in the Privacy Shield means that data transfers of personal information from EU countries may be made to locations in the United States in compliance with EU privacy law. FICO has signed up for the Privacy Shield principles of notice; choice; onward transfer; security; data integrity and purpose limitation; access; and recourse, enforcement and liability.
“FICO has always been in legal compliance with EU privacy law, because we use Standard Contractual Clauses (sometimes called “model clauses”) in our client contracts,” Gudmundsen said. “The Standard Contractual Clauses give the data subjects legal rights under EU privacy law, and have been approved by the EU data protection authorities in all member countries.”
Administered by the International Trade Administration (ITA) within the U.S. Department of Commerce, and enforced in the United States by the Federal Trade Commission, the Privacy Shield imposes safeguards for U.S.-based organizations processing European data. It is the successor to the Safe Harbor framework, under which FICO had been self-certified from 2011 until the framework was overturned by the European Court of Justice in 2015.
To view the public-facing list of Privacy Shield participants, visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant_search. FICO’s profile is accessible here.
