U.S. federal agencies publish final model GLBA privacy form
On November 16, 2009, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Treasury; the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the Office of Thrift Supervision, Treasury; the National Credit Union Administration; the Federal Trade Commission; the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and the Securities and Exchange Commission (collectively, the Agencies) published a final rule amending the rules that implement the privacy notice obligations under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). Pursuant to the final rule, the Agencies are adopting an optional model privacy form that financial institutions may rely on as a safe harbour and that will satisfy their privacy notice obligations under the GLBA. The final rule will come into effect on December 31, 2009.
The model form replaces the “sample clauses” previously contained in the Agencies’ privacy rules and used by many financial institutions in their GLBA notices as a safe harbour. The Securities and Exchange Commission is eliminating the guidance associated with, and the other Agencies are eliminating the safe harbour permitted for, notices based on the sample clauses if the notice is provided after December 31, 2010.
The final rule includes three versions of the model form: (1) a model form with no opt-out; (2) a model form with opt-out by telephone and/or online; and (3) a model form with opt-out by telephone, online and/or mail-in.
