12.2.2010 Official Journal of the European Union L 39/5 COMMISSION DECISION of 5 February 2010 on standard contractual clauses for the transfer of personal data to processors established in third countries under Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (notified under document C(2010) 593) (Text with EEA relevance) (2010/87/EV) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (!), and in particular Article 26(4) thereof, After consulting the European Data Protection Supervisor, Whereas: (1) Pursuant to Directive 95/46/EC Member States are required to provide that a transfer of personal data to a third country may only take place if the third country in question ensures an adequate level of data protection and the Member States’ laws, which comply with the other provisions of the Directive, are respected prior to the transfer. (2)  However, Article 26(2) of Directive 95/46/EC provides that Member States may authorise, subject to certain safeguards, a transfer or a set of transfers of personal data to third countries which do not ensure an adequate level of protection. Such safeguards may in particular result from appropriate contractual clauses. (3)  Pursuant to Directive 95/46/EC the level of data protection should be assessed in the light of all the circumstances surrounding the data transfer operation or set of data transfer operations. The Working Party on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data established under that Directive has issued guidelines to aid with the assessment. () OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31. ) Standard contractual clauses should relate only to data protection. Therefore, the data exporter and the data importer are free to include any other clauses on business related issues which they consider as being pertinent for the contract as long as they do not contradict the standard contractual clauses. This Decision should be without prejudice to national authorisations Member States may grant in accordance with national provisions implementing Article 26(2) of Directive 95/46/EC. This Decision should only have the effect of requiring the Member States not to refuse to recognise, as providing adequate safeguards, the standard contractual clauses set out in it and should not therefore have any effect on other contractual clauses. Commission Decision 2002/16/EC of 27 December 2001 on standard contractual clauses for the transfer of personal data to processors established in third countries, under Directive 95/46/EC (%) was adopted in order to facilitate the transfer of personal data from a data controller established in the European Union to a processor established in a third country which does not offer adequate level of protection. Much experience has been gained since the adoption of Decision 2002/16/EC. In addition, the report on the implementation of Decisions on standard contractual clauses for the transfers of personal data to third countries (}) has shown that there is an increasing interest in promoting the use of the standard contractual clauses for international transfers of personal data to third countries not providing an adequate level of protection. In addition, stakeholders have submitted proposals with a view to updating the standard contractual clauses set out in Decision 2002/16/EC in order to take account of the rapidly expanding scope of data-processing activities in the world and to address some issues that were not covered by that Decision (¥). () OJ L 6, 10.1.2002, p. 52. (%) SEC(2006) 95, 20.1.2006. (*) The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Japan Business Council in Europe (JBCE), EU Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Belgium (Amcham), and the Federation of European Direct Marketing Associations (FEDMA).