1E9Ct5D

ByrneWallace I Why Ireland? A guide to doing business in Ireland I 19TechnologySome of the world’s leading technology companies such asMicrosoft, Dell, Google and Facebook have chosen to locateoperations in Ireland due to the favourable conditions for investment.Ireland has succeeded in attracting such technologycompanies not only due to the attractive tax benefits butalso due to the access to an educated and skilled workforceand a favourable regulatory regime for the creation and exploitationof intellectual property.DATA PROTECTIONIreland had one of the earliest dataprotection legislative regimes inEurope. The Data Protection Acts 1988and 2003 are the principle pieces oflegislation governing the area of dataprotection in Ireland. The Acts specifythe data protection principles whichmust be complied with when personaldata is being processed. Differentprovisions apply depending on whetherthe personal data being processed isclassed as sensitive or non-sensitivedata. Duties of data controllers and dataprocessors are also set out in the Acts.Certain rights are conferred on datasubjects including the following: theright to be informed of data being kept;the right to prevent data being usedfor the purpose of direct marketing; theright to access personal data; the rightto change or remove details; and theright to prevent use of personal details.The Acts also contain restrictions onthe transfer of personal data by a datacontroller to a country outside of theEuropean Economic Area (the “EEA”)and provides that such a transfer maynot take place unless that particularcountry or territory ensures an adequatelevel of protection for the privacy ofits data subjects in relation to theprocessing of their personal data. Thereare also a number of ways to transferdata to “unapproved states” such asusing the Safe Harbour Principles orusing a special EU approved modelcontract.E-COMMERCEIreland was one of the first countriesin the EU to pass legislation providingfor a framework to encourage andfacilitate the growth of electroniccommerce and electronic transactionsin Ireland. The Electronic CommerceAct 2000 provides for the recognitionof electronic contracts, electronicsignatures and also gives admissibility toelectronic information generally. The Actalso addresses electronic originals, theretention of electronic documents andthe admissibility of electronic evidencein courts. In addition, the Act providesfor the accreditation and supervision ofcertification service providers and alsocontains provisions dealing with theirliability.Ireland has a comprehensive legislativee- commerce regime derived fromEU law and Ireland has implementednumerous EU Directives in this area,including the following:(i) Electronic Signatures Directive(1999/93/EC);(ii) Electronic Commerce Directive(2000/31/EC);(iii) Distance Selling Directive (97/7/EC);(iv) Electronic Money InstitutionsDirectives (2000/28/EC and2000/46/EC).The Electronic Commerce Regulations2003 implemented the remainingprovisions of the Electronic CommerceDirective which had not beenimplemented by the Act. It appliesto almost all organisations who offercommercial services to customersonline. It provides that certaininformation must be provided by anonline service provider in a mannerwhich is easily, directly and permanentlyaccessible to recipients of a service.The Distance Selling Directive aimed toharmonise laws in respect of distancecontracts for consumers throughout theEU, substantially increasing protection