DoubleClick, the US online advertising firm which was embroiled in a privacy dispute last year, is attempting sure there is no repeat within its European operations.

The firm was investigated by US watchdogs following allegations that it was tracking customers' surfing habits and logging the information in a marketing database.

DoubleClick in the UK has just appointed online privacy expert Amanda Chandler as director of data protection, and she admitted that current EU privacy laws were chaotic.

"The European directive on data protection is being distributed in different countries at different times." she said.

"We are living in a state of flux, so it is very difficult to be certain whether the one interpretation is definitive. My role will be to keep abreast of these developments for our clients."

Ms Chandler, who worked at the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, will also ensure that DoubleClick follows the UK Data Protection Act.

"The internet is a very complex thing and it is early days for the industry. There is still a lot of work to be done as the law develops," she added.

In order to settle last year's dispute, DoubleClick appointed lawyer Jules Polonetsky as chief privacy officer and established privacy guidelines.

He is determined that the company, which runs and tracks online adverts for clients, will lead the way in internet privacy.

"We take great pains to ensure that we follow data protection laws, and we are leading the privacy issue in terms of best practice," he said.