India to adopt data privacy rules.

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A new law expected to be in place in India in early 2004 will provide legal safeguards to ensure data privacy protection for India and its offshore customers, including those in the United States and the European Union.

India's Ministry of Information Technology and the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) in New Delhi drafted the law, designed to reduce growing privacy concerns from E.U. and U.S. companies. The E.U.'s Data Protection Directive, which spurred India's law, requires such safeguards for all data leaving the European Union.

No U.S. law currently prohibits information such as Social Security and driver's license numbers, employment histories, and medical records from being shipped to or accessed from other countries, William Bierce, attorney and president of the New York City-based law practice Bierce...