Dear Ambassador Aaron,

This letter is to submit comments on behalf of the Association of Executive Search Consultants(AESC) in response to the November 15 1999 draft of International Safe Harbor principles issued by the US Department of Commerce.
The AESC was founded in 1959 to establish and promote the highest professional and ethical standards for retained executive search consulting. The AESC also supports public policies that advance the goals of the profession and disseminates information about executive search to the media, the business community and the general public. It is the leading organization world-wide representing the executive search profession.

Today executive search is fundamentally linked to the global economy. As gatekeepers of management talent, executive search consultants have a profound influence on the growth and success of organizations. Like investment banking and public accounting, executive search consulting relies upon a high degree of confidentiality in providing an indispensable service employed by organizations world-wide. The profession is built upon sensitive relationships with clients, candidates, employees and communities. Confidentiality and integrity are key to our professional practices and ethics.

As noted, the handling of confidential information is core to the successful performance of our business. It would be an unacceptable burden on the search process if, every time our member firms were to review or acquire information on an executive, that it was necessary to give notice to that executive and achieve their consent before proceeding with our
research. It is only at the stage where an individual formally becomes a candidate for a position being handled by a search firm that consent is normally obtained.

It should be noted that in response to the European Directive on Data Privacy of 1995(95/46EC) the AESC's European Council has developed a draft Code of Conduct for executive search which will be submitted shortly to the EU and the member states for consideration. This code of conduct is intended to provide a self-regulating, but sensible and practical, basis
for executive search to be conducted in Europe.

We believe that the draft AESC European Code of Conduct will indicate to the regulatory authorities in Europe that the search profession supports the harmonized implementation of the EU Directive. However, this Code does not apply in the US and for the foreseeable future AESC requests that the executive search business should be treated as an exception within the Safe
Harbor principles in order to permit our international firms to conduct search effectively across the Atlantic without unreasonable barriers.

We believe that the mobility of executive talent across the Atlantic will contribute greatly to the health of both the US and European economies. Full implementation of the Safe Harbor principles would significantly and adversely affect how the executive search profession operates.

Thank you for your consideration of these views.

Yours sincerely,

Peter M. Felix
President