The Sedona Conference® International Principles on Discovery, Disclosure & Data Protection: Best Practices, Recommendations & Principles for Addressing the Preservation & Discovery of Protected Data in U.S. Litigation (European Union Edition, Public Comment Version, December 2011)

http://www.thesedonaconference.org/dltForm?did=IntlPrinciples2011.pdf

The link above provides access for you to download a copy of the Sedona Conference® International Principles on Discovery and Disclosure, which was released for comment in December 2011.

The Sedona document states as follows, "Now, after more than six years, Working Group 6 has drafted The Sedona Conference® International Principles on Discovery, Disclosure and Data Protection (“International Principles”). The International Principles sets forth a three-stage approach to addressing cross-border conflicts while also providing useful commentary. The previously published Framework for Analysis will serve as an appendix to the International Principles, providing a strong foundation. The International Principles demonstrates that data protection and discovery are not at intellectual or practical odds.

Finally, as part of the International Principles, Working Group 6 has developed a model protective order and a model data process and transfer protocol for use by parties and courts to better protect litigation-related data subject to data protection laws within the ambit of traditional U.S. litigation and court discovery practices. The Sedona Conference® Model Protected Data Protective Order (“Protective Order”) combines the conventional protective order restrictions on disclosure and use of “confidential” information with additional specific protections for certain classes of information (e.g., personal information) because of international and domestic data protection laws. The Sedona Conference® Cross-Border Data Safeguarding Process + Transfer Protocol (“Protocol”) outlines a practical, baseline approach to protecting data at the preservation and collection levels, rather than attempt to reconcile differences in data protection and privacy schemes among countries and multinational companies.

The International Principles, together with the Framework for Analysis, the Protective Order, and the Protocol, demonstrate that through cooperation and dialogue, and the collective experiences of hundreds of commentators, problems that were once thought to be insurmountable are, in fact, manageable and solvable.

This version of the International Principles is subtitled “European Union Edition.” Other editions of the International Principles are planned for publication by Working Group 6 that will focus on sovereign countries or regions other than the EU and the intersection of their data protection laws and U.S. preservation and discovery requirements."

The document outlines 6 principles and provides detailed discussion around each of the items.  The principles outline discovery obligations, and suggests methods for handling conflicts between jurisdictional rules between the US and the EU.