Google shakes up Apps contracts to keep EU watchdogs sweet

Google has added new provisions to help Google Apps customers remain compliant with European data regulation while using its services.

Google is adding new provisions to help Google Apps customers remain compliant with European data regulation while using its services. Image credit: Shutterstock

The company announced it would be adding model contract clauses — agreements between Google and its customers that outline how Google will process their data — to its Google Apps products on Wednesday, in order to help companies meet the requirements of the European Commission's Data Protection Directive.

The contract clauses "describe how the provider will be processing the data on behalf of the customer", Marc Crandall, senior manager of Global Compliance for Enterprise for Google, told ZDNet UK. "It's more about the protection and safeguards of the processor of the data."

"What this does is help address a regulatory requirement," he added, by helping businesses show that it meets the EU standard for privacy protection.

The clauses will be available to customers "in the next few months", according to Crandall, and will join Google's current compliance options for enterprises via its participation in the US-EU Safe Harbour Framework and its ISO 27001 security certification.

Google will continue to introduce provisions and pursue certifications that enable customers to conform to regulatory requirements, Crandall said.

"The internet field, technology, is certainly not a stagnant area, and customers and regulators alike understand this," he said. "Regulatory compliance is something that's on everybody's minds as technology changes."

The EU's current data protection regulation was introduced in 1995, and is currently being revamped by EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding to introduce fines for companies that mishandle customer data.