Ensuring and maintaining compliance with the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor principles should be a priority for U.S. entities receiving personal data relating to EU residents, in no small part to avoid the FTC leveling the charge and accompanying penalties of “deceptive trade practices.”

Last month, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) issued draft Consent Orders with two U.S. companies, TES Franchising, LLC (“TES”) and American International Mailing, Inc. (“AIM”), settling claims by the FTC that the companies had engaged in deceptive trade practices by representing that they were certified under the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor when their certifications had lapsed years earlier.