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Safe Harbor Certification—Data Privacy Assurance for European Union and Swiss Customers and Authors

We self-certify compliance with:
U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework Certification Mark

Safe Harbor certification provides assurance to our European Union and Swiss customers and authors that their personal information remains protected and confidential. A FontLife Publication, LLC has an International outreach. Print books and eBooks that we publish for our talented authors are distributed worldwide through our very large and growing global distribution channels. At A FontLife Publication, LLC, protecting your private information is our priority. To that end, we have self-certified to the United States Department of Commerce’s Safe Harbor Program.

What is Safe Harbor

The United States Department of Commerce created the International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles certification program in response to the 1995 Directive on Data Protection (Directive 95/46/EC) of the European Commission.

The European Commission’s Directive on Data Protection went into effect in October of 1998, and prohibits the transfer of personal data to non-European Union countries that do not meet the European Union (EU) “adequacy” standard for privacy protection. While the United States and the EU share the goal of enhancing privacy protection for their citizens, the United States takes a different approach to privacy from that taken by the EU.

In order to bridge these differences in approach and provide a streamlined means for U.S. organizations to comply with the Directive, the U.S. Department of Commerce in consultation with the European Commission developed a “Safe Harbor” framework and a website to provide the information an organization would need to evaluate—and then join—the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor program.

The U.S. Department of Commerce in consultation with the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner of Switzerland developed a separate “Safe Harbor” framework to bridge the differences between the two countries’ approaches to privacy and provide a streamlined means for U.S. organizations to comply with Swiss data protection law.

The Safe Harbor Principles

The Safe Harbor Privacy Principles include:

  • Notice—Individuals must be informed that their data is being collected and about how it will be used.
  • Choice—Individuals must have the ability to opt out of the collection and forward transfer of the data to third parties.
  • Onward Transfer—Transfers of data to third parties may only occur to other organizations that follow adequate data protection principles.
  • Security —Reasonable efforts must be made to prevent loss of collected information.
  • Data Integrity—Data must be relevant and reliable for the purpose it was collected for.
  • Access—Individuals must be able to access information held about them, and correct or delete it if it is inaccurate.
  • Enforcement—There must be effective means of enforcing these rules.

Safe Harbor Self-Certification

Safe Harbor benefits are assured from the date on which A FontLife Publication, LLC self-certified to the Department of Commerce its adherence to the Principles in accordance with the guidance set forth below.

To self-certify for the Safe Harbor, A FontLife Publication, LLC provided to the Department of Commerce a letter—signed by a corporate officer that contains the following information:

  1. name of organization, mailing address, email address, telephone and fax numbers;
  2. description of the activities of the organization with respect to personal information received from the EU and Switzerland; and
  3. description of A FontLife Publication, LLC’s privacy policy for such personal information, including:
    1. where the privacy policy is available for viewing by the public,
    2. its effective date of implementation,
    3. a contact office for the handling of complaints, access requests, and any other issues arising under the Safe Harbor,
    4. the specific statutory body that has jurisdiction to hear any claims against the organization regarding possible unfair or deceptive practices and violations of laws or regulations governing privacy (and that is listed in the annex to the Principles),
    5. name of any privacy programs in which the organization is a member,
    6. method of verification, and
    7. the independent recourse mechanism that is available to investigate unresolved complaints.

What Safe Harbor Means to You

Self-certification to the Safe Harbor Principles means that A FontLife Publication, LLC complies with the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework and the U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework and adheres to the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles of notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access, and enforcement. We do this because we want your business and we want you to feel safe when you do business with us. To view our Safe Harbor Certification, please visit http://safeharbor.export.gov/companyinfo.aspx?id=19008