On August 19, 2009, the Official Journal published guidelines issued by the French Data Protection Authority (Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (the “CNIL”)) regarding transfers of personal data carried out in the context of U.S. discovery proceedings (the “Guidelines”). The CNIL’s publication comes in the wake of a recent increase in the volume of requests made to French-based companies involved in U.S. litigation to disclose information or documents for the purposes of civil pre-trial discovery.
According to the Guidelines, disclosure of personal data pursuant to foreign court proceedings must comply with applicable laws and treaties ratified by France, including the Hague Convention of March 19, 1970, which enables a contracting State to declare that it will not execute letters of request issued for the purpose of obtaining pre-trial discovery.
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