Additional Documentation

Additional Documentation for Privacy Shield Self-Certification

Note regarding the selection of the EU DPAs as an independent recourse mechanism: An organization that wishes its Privacy Shield benefits to cover human resources data transferred from the EU in the context of the employment relationship must commit to cooperate with the EU DPAs with regard to such data. Such organization must therefore choose EU DPAs as an independent recourse mechanism.

To utilize the EU data protection authorities (DPAs) as an independent recourse mechanism, an organization must  pay an annual fee of US $50 in order to cover the operating costs of the EU DPA panel. This fee is payable to the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), which has agreed to act as a trusted third party for this purpose. The fee can be paid online here.


Note regarding the Annex I Binding Arbitration Mechanism: As described in Annex I, the Privacy Shield Frameworks provide the option for an individual to invoke binding arbitration to determine whether a Privacy Shield organization has violated its obligations under the Privacy Shield Principles as to that individual and whether any such violation remains fully or partially unremedied (“residual claims”). All organizations self-certifying to the Privacy Shield are required to contribute to a fund established to cover the arbitral costs associated with arbitration under Annex I, including arbitrator fees.

This requirement is separate from Privacy Shield organizations’ obligation to provide a readily available independent recourse mechanism, and to pay the annual fee to the Department of Commerce to participate in the Privacy Shield. The International Centre for Dispute Resolution-American Arbitration Association (ICDR-AAA) was selected to administer the arbitrations under Annex I and manage the arbitral fund. Please visit ICDR-AAA’s website to make the required contribution.