Bush looking to scrap deal on internet privacy

US President George W. Bush is trying to reverse an agreement between America and Europe intended to ensure the privacy of individuals buying goods over the internet, claiming that it could be "burdensome" on US multinational businesses.

The new administration is pressing for a delay ­ at least ­ of the treaty that was hammered out last year after months of negotiation between the Clinton administration and the European Union, to safeguard the online privacy of European internet users.

The move mirrors the Bush administration's announcement earlier this week that it will not implement the Kyoto treaty, intended to tackle the pollution that causes climate change, and suggests that America is becoming increasingly aggressive in pushing its agenda on the world.

The Europe-wide laws on data privacy make it an offence for a European company to pass information about customers ­ such as names, addresses, e-mail, telephone or credit details ­ to outside organisations that do not meet EU "data privacy" guidelines.

The plan was to stop unscrupulous companies bothering people in Europe with unwanted sales pitches.

But America was also caught in that description because it has no data privacy laws. The agreement would have defined some US internet companies as a "safe harbour" for European data, as long as they met certain standards.

That agreement has now hit choppy water. The Bush administration's Treasury and Commerce department has complained in a letter to the EU that the measure is a threat to transatlantic e-commerce, and could burden website operators with red tape.

Ian Bourne, strategic policy manager of the UK information commissioner's office (formerly the data protection registrar) said: "The safe harbour system is meant to be simple, cheap and easy for US firms to sign up to. If a company like Hewlett-Packard could do it, why couldn't others?"

Mike Bradford, director of compliance and data protection at the British credit-checking company Experian, said: "If the US tears up the safe harbour agreement, it takes us back to the situation where every individual person has to agree before their data can be passed to a company in the US."

Experian is one of the biggest credit-checking companies and receives many requests for data from America.

Jodie Sangster of the UK's Direct Marketing Assocation said it would be "very disappointing" if the agreement was taken away, adding: "It will make it much harder for European businesses to trade data with the US." Such trade is potentially worth millions of pounds.

The Bush administration has complained that meeting the EU-like data privacy requirements would be hardest on financial services companies. But Ms Sangster rebutted that, saying: "Companies in Europe find that data privacy law doesn't get in the way; but you have to be a lot more transparent when you ask an internet user to provide data ... and give them the option for that data not to be used."

American politicians complain that the EU's data privacy rules are tantamount to a trade barrier because they could prevent US companies from marketing directly to European residents using data acquired in Europe.

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