7.1. Relationships between national laws and the BCRs
CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN SAS undertakes that the CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Companies and Employees of the CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Group shall comply with the provisions of the BCRs, as well as with the provisions of the Applicable Data Protection Laws.
Where the local Applicable Data Protection Laws require a higher level of protection for Personal Data, they will take precedence over the BCRs. When in doubt, the concerned CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Company may consult the competent Supervisory Authorities and/or the Lead Supervisory Authority
7.2. Actions in case of national legislation preventing respect of BCRs
Before using the BCRs as a mechanism to transfer Personal Data to a third country, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Group undertakes that it will assess, in collaboration with the Local data controller, if there is anything in the law or practice of the third country that may impinge on the effectiveness of the BCRs.
For this purpose, the said Local data controller will do its best efforts to provide CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Group with the relevant sources and information relating to the third country in which it is established and the laws applicable to the Data Transfer.
• Prior assessment to be performed before transferring Personal Data:
This assessment shall take into consideration:
• All the actors participating in the Data Transfer of Personal Data and the transmission channels used, as well as any onward Data Transfer that may occur;
• The applicable legal context and specific circumstances of the Data Transfer, in particular:
- Length of the Processing chains;
- Type of recipient;
- Purposes for which the Personal Data are transferred and processed (e.g. Human resource management, payroll management, access control management, Customers, prospects and suppliers relationship management);
- Economic sector in which the transfer occurs;
- Categories of Personal Data transferred;
- Whether the Personal Data will be stored in the third country or whether there is only remote access to Personal Data stored within the EU/EEA;
- Format of the Personal Data to be transferred (i.e. in plain text/pseudonymized or encrypted);
- Possibility that the Personal Data may be subject to onward transfers from the third country to another third country;
- Any relevant contractual, technical or organizational safeguards put in place to supplement the safeguards under these BCRs, including measures applied during transmission and to the processing of the Personal Data in the country of destination.
• The applicable laws to assess if any impinge on the commitments contained in the BCRs, in particular:
- Verify if commitments enabling Data Subjects to exercise their rights in the context of Data Transfers (such as access, correction and deletion requests for transferred Personal Data) can be effectively applied in practice and are not thwarted by any law in the third country of destination;
- Verify that the right of redress afforded to the Data Subject in case of access by third country public authorities to the transferred Personal Data can be effectively applied in practice and is not thwarted by any law in the third country of destination;
- Verify that requirements to disclose Personal Data to public authorities or powers of access to Personal Data granted to such public authorities (for instance for criminal law enforcement, regulatory supervision and national security purposes) are limited to what is necessary and proportionate in a democratic society, and may not impinge on the commitments contained in the BCRs;
• The different aspects of the legal system of the third country (listed in Article 45(2) of the GDPR), such as:
- The rule of law,
- The existence of a comprehensive data protection law or an independent Supervisory Authority;
- Adherence to international instruments providing for data protection safeguards.
When specifically assessing the law of a third country dealing with access to data by public authorities for the purpose of surveillance, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Group, in collaboration with the Local data controller, shall take into consideration:
• The legislation publicly available; and,
• In the event the legislation in the third country is lacking, the following relevant and objective factors:
- Elements demonstrating that a third country authority will seek to access the Personal Data with or without the Local data controller’s knowledge, in light of reported precedents, legislation and practice;
- Elements demonstrating that a third country authority will be able to access the Personal Data through the Local data controller or through direct interception of the communication channel in light of reported precedents, legal powers, and technical, financial, and human resources at its disposal.
Such assessments will be documented and be made available to the competent Supervisory Authority upon request.
• Actions to be taken after the assessment step, in the event of a conflict between local Applicable Data Protection Laws or practices and the BCRs:
• Information of the Global Data Protection Officer and the Head Controller by the Local data controller
If a Local data controller has reason to believe that legislation or practices applicable to the said Local data controller prevents it from fulfilling its obligations under the BCRs and has a substantial effect on the guarantees provided by the BCRs, the Local data controller will promptly inform the Global Data Protection Officer and the Head Controller
• Adoption of appropriate safeguards by the Local Data Exporter and/or Local data controller, or if not possible, suspension of the Data Transfer
Where there shall be conflict between local Applicable Data Protection Laws or practices and the commitments in the BCRs, the Local data controller, shall promptly inform the Global Data Protection Officer. The Global Data Protection Officer shall promptly identify and suggest appropriate measures (such as, for instance, Technical and Organizational Security Measures to ensure security and confidentiality) that could be adopted by the Local Data Exporter and/or Local data controller to address the situation. If the Group Data Protection Officer considers that no appropriate safeguards for such transfer can be ensured, or if instructed so by the competent Supervisory Authority, it shall inform the Head Controller and/or the Local Data Exporter which shall in return suspend the Data Transfer.
• Notification and information of the Local Data Exporter and the Data Subject
More particularly, where any legal requirement or practice a Local data controller is subject to in a third country is likely to have a substantial adverse effect on the guarantees provided by the BCRs, the problem should be reported to the Local Data Exporter and, where possible, to the Data Subject promptly. This includes any legally binding request for disclosure of the Personal Data by a law enforcement authority or state security body. As specified in article 48 of the GDPR, any judgment of a court or tribunal and any decision of an administrative authority of a third country requiring any CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Companies to transfer or disclose Personal Data may only be recognized or enforceable in any manner if based on an international agreement, such as a mutual legal assistance treaty, in force between the requesting third country and the Union or a Member State, without prejudice to other grounds for transfer pursuant to Chapter V of the GDPR.
In such a case, the Local Data Exporter, and, where possible, the Data Subject should be clearly informed about the request, including information about the Personal Data requested, the requesting body, the legal basis for the disclosure, and the response provided (unless otherwise prohibited, such as a prohibition under criminal law to preserve the confidentiality of a law enforcement investigation – see below).
If in specific cases the notification is prohibited, the requested Local data controller will use its best efforts to obtain the right to waive this prohibition in order to communicate as much information as it can and as soon as possible, and be able to demonstrate that it did so. The Local data controller agrees to document such best efforts in order to be able to demonstrate them on request of the Local Data Exporter.
If, in the above cases, despite having used its best efforts, the requested Local data controller is not in a position to notify the Local Data Exporter and the Data Subject, this Data Controller commits, where permissible under the laws of the country of destination, to regularly provide as much relevant information possible on the requests it received to Head Controller and to the Local Data Exporter (e.g. number of applications for disclosure, type of Personal Data requested, requester, whether requests have been challenged and the outcome of such challenges, etc.).
• Prior review of the legality of a request for disclosure to be performed before responding to it and respect of the data minimization principle when responding to such request
• Prior review of legality
The Local data controller agrees to review the legality of the request for disclosure, in particular whether it remains within the powers granted to the requesting public authority, and to challenge the request, if, after careful assessment, it concludes that there are reasonable grounds to consider that the request is unlawful under the laws of the country of destination, applicable obligations under international law and principles of international comity. The Local data controller shall, under the same conditions, pursue possibilities of appeal. When challenging a request, the Local data controller shall seek interim measures with a view to suspending the effects of the request until the competent judicial authority has decided on its merits. It shall not disclose the Personal Data requested until required to do so under the applicable procedure rules. These requirements are without prejudice to the obligations of the Local data controller to inform the Local Data Exporter promptly where it is unable to comply with these BCRs.
The Local data controller agrees to document its legal assessment and any challenge to the request for disclosure and, to the extent permissible under the laws of the country of destination, make the documentation available to the Local Data Exporter. It shall also make it available to the competent Supervisory Authority on request.
• Respect of the data minimization principle
The Local data controller agrees to provide the minimum amount of information permissible when responding to a request for disclosure, based on a reasonable interpretation of the request. In any case, Data Transfers by a Local data controller to any public authority cannot be massive, disproportionate and indiscriminate in a manner that would go beyond what is necessary in a democratic society.
7.3 Updates of the BCRs
In case of changes in laws, in CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN procedures or in the scope of the BCRs, the terms of the BCRs may be updated on the initiative of the Head Controller, in coordination with the Global Data Protection Officer.
Any update of the BCRs shall be recorded and kept by the Global Data Protection Officer. The Global Data Protection Officer keeps an updated list of the members of the CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Group. These changes shall also be communicated to CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN BCRs Companies.
No transfer based on the BCRs shall be made to a new CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Company until this new Company is effectively bound by the BCRs and can deliver compliance to the same.
CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN undertakes that any update of the BCRs or of the list of BCR member will be provided to the competent Supervisory Authorities through the Leading Supervisory Authority, with a brief explanation of the reasons justifying the update. In particular:
• any changes which would affect the level of protection offered by the BCRs or will significantly affect the BCRs will be provided to the Leading Supervisory Authority promptly, which will consider whether this affects the approval previously issued for the BCR;
• Other modifications will be provided to the Leading Supervisory Authority once a year, if applicable.
In addition, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN undertakes to provide the necessary information about any updates to the BCRs to the Data Subjects. These informations are available on the CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN website.
7.4 Entry into effect and termination
The BCRs shall take effect upon the date of their signature by CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN SAS and the CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Companies signing the present BCRs as of the date hereof and, as a consequence, are legally bound. As regard the CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Companies which have not signed the present BCRs as of the date hereof and which further decide to abide by the present BCRs, the BCRS shall take effect and be binding upon the date of signature of the BCRs intra-group agreement by the respective CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Company.
Each Company of CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN recognizes to be bound by the BCRs, from the date of signature present BCRs or, as the case may be, from the signature of Appendix 4 of the BCRs intra-group agreement and without any other formalities, with respect to other CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Companies already bound or about to be bound from the date of their signature, notwithstanding the date and place of signature of a BCRs intra-group agreement by each other Company of CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN involved, and provided that the terms of the BCRs are strictly identical between each other. Except if a Company of CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN is able to prove that its signed BCRs intra-group agreement is not strictly identical to the ones signed by other entities, it expressly and irrevocably disclaims challenging the evidence that it is bound by the terms of the BCRs.
In the event that a Local Data Exporter or a Local Data Importer would be found in substantial or persistent breach of the terms of the BCRs, the Head Controller may temporarily suspend the transfer of Personal Data until the breach is remedied. Should the breach not be remedied in due time, the Head Controller shall take the initiative to terminate the BCRs intra-group agreement with respect to that specific Local Data Exporter or Local Data Importer. In such a case, the Local Data Exporter or Local Data Importer shall take every necessary step in order to comply with the European rules on transborder cross-border data flows (Articles 46 of the GDPR), for instance by using the EU Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the EU Commission.
7.5 Applicable law / jurisdiction
The provisions of the BCRs shall be governed by the Applicable Data Protection Laws.
In accordance with paragraph 6.4, jurisdiction shall be attributed to the courts of the Local Data Importer or Local Data Exporter.
7.6 Interpretation of terms
In case of discrepancies between the BCRs and the Appendices, the main body of the BCRs shall prevail. In case of discrepancies between the BCRs including its Appendices and other global or local CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN policies, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN procedures or CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN guidelines, the BCRs shall prevail. In case of discrepancies or inconsistency, the terms of the BCRs shall always be interpreted and governed by the provisions of the GDPR and 2002/58/EC Directive, as amended, if applicable.