Certified Document Translations for e-Discovery
Multilingual ediscovery translation services and corporate translation services are relevant for multinational companies that have operations in the US and are subject to both the US civil procedure discovery rules and the privacy laws of the European Union or other ‘home base’ countries. Such transnational companies are no stranger to the complications of e-discovery rules, since trying to comply with both rules can became an issue when a conflict of laws arises.
Based on this issue, a Working Group has been formed to draft proposed international principles (Working Group 6 of The Sedona Conference’s International Principles on Discovery, Disclosure and Data Protection). The principles are currently available for public comment. It should be noted, however, that the current principles are the EU version, with the stated focus of being ‘principally on the relationship between US preservation and discovery obligations and the EU Data Protection Directive’.
The document is based around six general principles:
- With regard to data that is subject to preservation, disclosure, or discovery, courts and parties should demonstrate due respect to the Data Protection Laws of any foreign sovereign and the interests of any person who is subject to or benefits from such laws.
- Where full compliance with both Data Protection Laws and preservation, disclosure, and discovery obligations presents a conflict, a party’s conduct should be judged by a court or data protection authority under a standard of good faith and reasonableness.
- Preservation or discovery of Protected Data should be limited in scope to that which is relevant and necessary to support any party’s claim or defense in order to minimize conflicts of law and impact on the Data Subject.
- Where a conflict exists between Data Protection Laws and preservation, disclosure, or discovery obligations, a stipulation or court order should be employed to protect Protected Data and minimize the conflict.
- A Data Controller subject to preservation, disclosure, or discovery obligations should be prepared to demonstrate that data protection obligations have been addressed and that appropriate data protection safeguards have been instituted.
- Data Controllers should retain Protected Data only as long as necessary to satisfy legal or business needs. While a legal action is pending or remains reasonably anticipated, Data Controllers should preserve relevant information, including relevant Protected Data, with appropriate data safeguards.
Contact our legal document translating firm to retain French, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Norwegian, Turkish, Czech translators and document reviewers for on-site or off-site e-Discovery translation and multilingual document review in Denver, Colorado, and elsewhere.