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| | Safe Harbor |
 | | On May 1, 2004, ten new Member States formally joined the European Union (EU). |
 | | While the United States and the European Union share the goal of enhancing privacy protection for their citizens, the United States takes a different approach to privacy from that taken by the European Union. |
 | | The European Union, however, relies on comprehensive legislation that, for example, requires creation of government data protection agencies, registration of data bases with those agencies, and in some instances prior approval before personal data processing may begin. |
| www.export.gov /safeharbor (705 words) |
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