Annual Reaffirmation
INSTRUCTIONS FOR REAFFIRMING YOUR COMMITMENT TO THE SWISS SAFE HARBOR FRAMEWORK
Swiss Safe Harbor FAQ on Self-Certification states, in part, that:
“The Department (or its designee) will maintain a list of all organizations that file such [self-certification] letters, thereby assuring the availability of safe harbor benefits, and will update such list on the basis of annual letters and notifications received pursuant to the FAQ on Dispute Resolution and Enforcement. “Such self-certification letters should be provided not less than annually.” (Emphasis Added)
The Department interprets this requirement to mean that organizations may either submit a new self-certification form annually (on or before the anniversary date of its original self-certification) or that it may reaffirm its existing self-certification (and provide any new information that it would like reflected), on or before its anniversary of self-certifying to the Swiss Safe Harbor Framework.
Organizations may meet this requirement by sending a letter or e-mail – from a company official authorized to reaffirm – that incorporates at a minimum the four reaffirmation points below:
- The information previously submitted to the Department of Commerce for purposes of self-certification is still correct and accurate;
- The officer is authorized to certify the organization's continued adherence to the safe harbor framework;
- The officer understands that misrepresentations in any information provided by the organization may be actionable under the False Statements Act, 18 U.S.C. ' 1001; and
- As a consequence of this annual self-certification, failure to adhere to the Safe Harbor framework may lead to enforcement action by the relevant enforcement authority.
IMPORTANT: If these four reaffirmation points are not included in the reaffirmation statement, the organization’s recertification to Safe Harbor will be incomplete.
This reaffirmation may be sent via e-mail to Damon Greer, or mailed to:
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 2003
1401 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20230.
An organization will be provided a short grace period, but if an organization does not reaffirm by its anniversary, their “self-certification status” will change from “current” to “not current”. This “not current” status will be reflected on the list as it appears on the Safe Harbor website.
