ETA Statement Regarding Attorney General Holder’s Call for a National Data Breach Notification Standard

February 24, 2014 – Statement by Jason Oxman, Chief Executive Officer, Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), regarding Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent call for a national data breach notification standard.

“ETA applauds Attorney General Holder for recognizing the importance of a uniform national data breach notification standard. Currently, there is a patchwork of 46 separate state data breach laws with which retailers and the payments industry must comply, making uniform alerts virtually impossible. A uniform national standard would protect consumers by providing reasonable and effective notification requirements. Consumers and businesses would have a common and consistent expectation of breach procedure, and company time and resources could be devoted to innovative security solutions to protect against new threats.

As the trade association of the payments industry, the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) recognizes that protecting the personal financial information of consumers is a responsibility shared among the payments processing industry, retailers and financial services industry.  We recently joined with 14 leading retail and financial services trade groups in a partnership to ensure that our shared infrastructure is secure.”

About ETA

The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) is the global trade association representing more than 500 payments and technology companies. ETA members make commerce possible by processing more than $4.5 trillion in purchases in the U.S. and deploying payments innovations to merchants and consumers.