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We’ve been speaking to a lot of clients and prospects about the change to data protection and privacy laws, and everyone has at least the same four questions.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the European regulation designed to give citizens greater control over their personal data and to protect it from loss or misuse. It replaces the existing DPA regulation in the UK, and it applies to essentially any organisation that holds data on citizens of member states of the European Union. So, if you have customers, employees or partners who are EU citizens, you are impacted.
As well as requiring companies to collect, store and use personal data securely, fairly, accurately and responsibly, GDPR legislation gives individuals new rights in eight key areas:
GDPR came into force on the 25th May 2018.
All organisations need to revisit their processes for seeking, storing, and managing consent from EU citizens for use of their personal data.
Note that “personal data” is defined in the GDPR as any information (e.g. an IP address) that could be used to identify a natural person.
A key principle is that GDPR requires users to opt in for the use of their data (where the current DPA simply protects their right to opt out).
The other major change is that you’ll need to be prepared to respond rapidly to requests from EU citizens to access, update, correct or delete their data.
Any organisations dealing with EU citizens (regardless of the location of that activity) will still be required to comply with GDPR.
If you would like to discuss your GDPR requirements, please contact us for more information.