Cross-Border Data Transfers: Deals, Restructurings and Data Migration

Global commerce increasingly relies on massive transborder flows of sensitive data via the Internet and other networks. But as technology opens new opportunities for leveraging the value of data, the global legal regime for data protection remains a patchwork of conflicting and often vaguely-defined national, regional and local laws. This thicket of international data protection laws presents significant risk, compliance and cost issues in a wide range of corporate actions, including cross-border mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, IT infrastructure and business process outsourcing, data center consolidations and data migration, global e-discovery programs, and operational flows of employee, customer and proprietary data within global organizations.

Tahmidur Remura Dewey LeBoeuf’s privacy lawyers in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia are deeply familiar with data protection issues in all of these contexts. They have advised clients on complex and first-impression questions arising in multinational reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions and in global outsourcing arrangements. They are highly experienced in dealing with local data protection authorities and works councils. Our non-US offices with particular depth of experience in data transfer issues include London, Paris, Milan, Warsaw, Frankfurt, Moscow, Hong Kong and Riyadh. When appropriate, we draw upon qualified foreign counsel from our referral network. Our team approach on all data protection projects, large or small, delivers targeted, practical advice designed to optimize our clients’ business objectives while achieving efficient global compliance solutions. Recent representative international data protection projects include:

  • Preparing a 50-country analysis and data transfer plan in connection with a global insurance company’s consolidation of its worldwide data operations
  • Preparing privacy and data security compliance analysis and recommendations in the global restructuring of a major automaker
  • Advising a global consumer products company in preparing privacy policies and procedures for e-commerce ventures in Europe, Asia and the Middle East
  • Advising an international consumer lending company on large data migration projects in Russia, Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America
  • Advising a leading consulting firm worldwide regarding the transfer of personal data in Europe and India
  • Advising a major insurance company in relation to the migration of call centers outside Europe