EDRM Announces New GDPR Guidelines Released for Public Comment

MINNEAPOLIS, MN, USA, October 23, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Leading the way for global best practices in e-discovery, the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) is pleased to release its “General Data Protection Regulation Cross-Border Discovery Guidelines,” which have been released for public comment. The public comment period will close on 11/20/2023.

Parties that have possession, custody or control of evidence potentially relevant to U.S. litigation or investigations are typically required to identify, collect, preserve, and produce such evidence (with limited exceptions) in response to discovery requests, subpoenas or litigation demands, regardless of where that evidence is located. Those requirements, however, may directly conflict with provisions in the European and UK General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

EDRM established a project team to develop guidelines and other resources to assist practitioners with compliance and has now released the draft guidelines for public comment. The guidelines can be downloaded here.

“Where litigation or investigation matters involve evidence located in Europe of the UK, parties are put into a difficult position of determining how to comply with U.S. discovery and/or production obligations without violating the GDPR,” said David Cohen, a Reed Smith partner who co-chairs the EDRM project team that developed the guidelines and related resources. “For even a single GDPR violation parties can be fined, up to the greater of 20 million Euro or 4% of a company’s annual worldwide revenue. Practitioners do not want to face such liabilities. The guidelines, accompanying checklist, model hold notice, and model protective order were developed by our EDRM team to help facilitate compliance."

Members of the EDRM project team included U.S. legal and privacy professionals, and also international lawyers who are members of the Commercial Litigation Association of Ireland (CLAI). “The Commercial Litigation Association of Ireland is delighted to endorse the EDRM’s Data Protection Guidelines, which are an invaluable tool for lawyers in understanding and ensuring their obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation when engaged in cross-border litigation,” said Helen Kilroy, Chair of the CLAI.

“Our global community is hungry for these resources,” said Mary Mack, EDRM’s CEO and chief legal technologists. “Those stewarding litigation or regulatory investigations that implicate evidence from the EU or the UK, will find the templates to be a great starting point.”

EDRM is grateful to the project team (organizations noted for identification purposes only):

• David Cohen, Partner, Reed Smith, USA (Pittsburgh, PA), Co-Trustee
• Anna Mercado Clark, Partner, Phillips Lytle, USA (New York City, NY)
• Wayne Matus, Co-Founder and General Counsel at SafeGuard✓Privacy, USA (Sarasota, FL)
• Chris Bojar, Director of eDiscovery & Litigation Support at Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP, USA (Chicago, IL)
• David Sweetman, Counsel at the Law Library, Ireland (Dublin)
• Ruth McAllister, Senior Associate at McCann Fitzgerald, Ireland (Dublin)
• Tamara Barnes, Health Information Privacy Consultant at Google, USA (Atlanta, GA)
• Jonathan Swerdloff, Director, Global Client Data Services and eDiscovery at Scott & Scott LLP, USA (New York City, NY)
• Niamh Murphy, Director of eDiscovery at Arthur Cox, Ireland (Dublin)
• Ines Rubio, Senior Director of Technology at FTI Consulting, Ireland (Dublin)
• Yelizaveta Kotova, eDiscovery at Reed Smith, USA (Pittsburgh, PA), Co-Trustee

Among the EDRM opportunities and resources available are the ability to connect, network and contribute via EDRM projects and events, share their expertise with our global community. The EDRM community of knowledgeable, multidisciplinary professionals is building resources to enhance e-discovery, privacy, security and information governance frameworks, processes and standards.

The EDRM community is comprised of 33% corporations, 30% law firms and 23% software and service providers, 12% governments with the remaining 2% being a mix of educators, students, judges and media in 145 countries spanning six continents.

About EDRM
Empowering the global leaders of e-discovery, the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) creates practical resources to improve e-discovery, privacy, security and information governance. Since 2005, EDRM has delivered leadership, standards, tools and guides to improve best practices throughout the world. EDRM has an international presence in 145 countries spanning six continents and growing has an innovative support infrastructure for individuals, law firms, corporations and government organizations seeking to improve the practice and provision of data and legal discovery. Learn more about the EDRM today at EDRM.net.

About EDRM’s GDPR Cross-Border Discovery Project
EDRM formed the team in August 2017 to develop guidance and resources for compliance with regard to cross-border discovery. The guidelines can be downloaded here: https://edrm.net/edrm-projects/gdpr-project/.

Contact info@edrm.net for more information on how to get involved in our global project community.

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