E-Discovery: What Increased Data Protection Means for the Global Economy

http://ow.ly/7i7gc

An article by Steven Hunter appearing on the E-Discovery Bytes website of Quarles & Brady.

This article discusses the trend that many corporations are multinational, and the fact that electronically stored information located in various jurisdictions poses a legal challenge for such corporations.

The article states, "Digital information will be governed by a set of laws and values many U.S. companies and their lawyers are not familiar with, because the U.S. trades more heavily with nations outside the EU. While most industrialized (e.g., Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia) and newly industrializing (e.g., Singapore and South Africa) nations have developed laws compelling the transfer of relevant electronically stored information (ESI) in civil disputes, none have laws as liberal and far reaching as U.S. civil discovery procedures."

The article further points out, ""In many non-U.S. jurisdictions, including the European Union member states, some Asian nations and a few Latin American nations, data privacy is viewed as a fundamental right and ‘personal data’ is afforded greater protections than we are accustomed in the U.S." (Gibson Dunn, "E-Discovery Basics: Cross-Border E-Discovery,” Vol. 1, No. 11). In addition, certain countries have privacy laws designed to protect information about their state-run companies (e.g., China) or even the identity of their banking clients (e.g., Switzerland)."

The author offers some advice, "to best prepare for cross-border e-discovery disputes in EU and non-EU countries, companies should:

• Determine whether their electronic data is stored in a jurisdiction that restricts their processing or transfer
• Consult or retain counsel in the jurisdiction where their data or the data they would like to obtain is stored for advice on how the data should be handled"