Service-now.com (News - Alert), an on-demand IT service management company, has announced it has been certified by the U.S. Department of Commerce with the United States-European Union (EU) Safe Harbor Framework. The Framework enables secure, uninterrupted data transfers from the EU to the United States.

 

The European Commission's Directive on Data Protection says the transfer of personal data to countries outside of the European Economic Area to nations that do not meet the EU standard for privacy protection is not allowed.

 

The U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Commission together developed a "safe harbor" framework that allows U.S. organizations to satisfy the European Directive's requirements and ensure that personal data flows to the United States are not interrupted.

 

The Framework provides a number of important benefits to U.S. and EU firms. It provides predictability and continuity for U.S. and EU companies that are sending and receiving personal information from Europe, and eliminates the need for prior approval to begin data transfers, or makes approval from the appropriate EU member countries automatic.

 

The Safe Harbor Privacy Principles offer a simpler and cheaper means of complying with the adequacy requirements of the Directive, which should particularly benefit small and medium enterprises.

 

The Framework has now achieved global recognition as one of the best ways to meet the requirements of the EU's Data Protection Directive.

 

Integrating ITIL v3 processes, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) delivery and Web 2.0 functionality, Service-now.com delivers a flexible, intuitive and self-managing application.

 

About 25 percent of Service-now.com's customer base is based in Europe and the company has been fulfilling its commitment to data privacy by certifying with the Safe Harbor Framework.

 

Fred Luddy, chief executive officer of Service-now.com, said that while the company already employs several layers of security in its technology, including secure data transmission protocols and SAS (News - Alert)-70 Type II certified data centers, this Safe Harbor certification underscores its commitment to the security of its customers' data around the world.