Russia announced its plan to increase data localization audits in 2016 pledging to conduct around 1,000 data localization compliance audits and 2,000 monitoring procedures, under Russia’s data protection authority, the Roskomnadzor. This stems from Russia’s data localization law which came into effect September 1, 2015, requiring that all companies that collect or process personal data of Russian citizens, process and store that information on servers in Russia. Companies also have an obligation to notify the Roskomnadzor of the location of these servers. Although the law has been in place for some time now, uncertainty remains as to the full extent of enforcement action that may be taken against non-compliant companies.

To read more about Russia’s data localization law and what this means for Russian companies, read Reed Smith attorney Cynthia O’Donoghue and Chantelle Taylor’s blog post on Technology Law Dispatch here.

Also on the Technology Law Dispatch is information on an upcoming webinar on January 12 from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET by the Association of National Advertisers titled, “LEGAL & REGULATORY SERIES: The European Union’s Safe Harbor Ruling: A Practical Discussion of the Impact and Solutions” where Reed Smith attorneys Paul Bond and Cynthia O’Donoghue will discuss practical solutions to companies to mitigate risks while transferring data across global borders due to the EU Safe Harbor ruling. The ruling is no stranger to the blog, as we’ve posted about it here, and authored two Reed Smith Client Alerts here and here. Fallout remains from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling in Maximillian Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner (Case C-362/14) that the Safe Harbor Decision no longer provides adequate protection for data transferred between the EU and the U.S.

To read more about the EU Safe Harbor ruling and the upcoming webinar, read Reed Smith attorneys Douglas J. Wood, Paul Bond and  Cynthia O’Donoghue blog post here.