In a case where discoverable information sits in other countries, you can’t simply collect it and bring it back to the U.S. for review–not even with data housed on servers belonging to your own company’s subsidiary or parent company.
Privacy laws outside the U.S. make what is routine and procedural here illegal there. Lawyers representing litigants in U.S. civil actions have been prosecuted in Europe for collecting data for discovery. It’s not that you can’t take electronic data outside of countries with privacy protection laws–you can, but only if you do it the right way. Sometimes it’s easier to work with it there instead of trying to get it out.
