The General Data Protection Regulations is a new set of standards for the protection of consumer data in the EU. Having an understanding of these GDPR Standards are vital for every company with business within the European Union.
What is the GDPR?
The GDPR affects each member country of the European Union and hopes to create standards to protect the consumer and personal data across the EU. The main privacy and protection requirements include:
- Requiring subject consent for data processing
- Anonymizing collected data for privacy protection
- Giving data breach notifications to users
- Safer international data transfers
- Requiring companies to appoint a data protection officer to oversee GDPR compliance
The GDPR Standards mandates a basic set of standards and guidelines for companies to better safeguard the processing and private user data.
When a data breach happens, information is lost or stolen. However, under the terms of the new GDPR standards, companies have to ensure that personal data is protected from any system failures and is gathered in a strictly legal manner or face heavy penalties.
Who is under GDPR protection?
GDPR applies to any company which offers goods or services to customers in the EU, regardless of if the companies reside in or outside of the EU. This means almost every major corporation will need to be GDPR compliant.
The GDPR standards place a legal obligation on a company to maintain records of personal data and how it is processed, providing a much higher level of legal liability should a data breach happens.
What does GDPR mean for businesses?
By reforming data legislation with GDPR, the European Commission predicts that it will be simpler and cheaper for businesses to operate within the region in the near future, saving €2.3 billion per year across Europe
This regulation will make companies implement data protection safeguards into new products and services in the earliest stage of development, guaranteeing a minimal standard of data protection across the board.
What Can Marketers Do?
The GDPR Standards are not leaps and bounds above what successful marketers are currently doing, but if you’re worried, here are some other substantial steps you can take:
- Update your privacy policies
- Ensure your email service providers are also GDPR compliant
- Understand that the GDPR will apply to all businesses that store personal data about citizens in Europe, including companies on other continents.
- Hire a data protection officer as is required
By adhering to the GDPR standards, businesses will be able to avoid falling behind and penalties while improving customer trust.
What does GDPR compliance look like?
There is not an easy approach to prepare for GDPR. Instead, business should examine what they subjectively need to remedy to comply and hire a data collection officer to ensure it happens. That can consist of an individual in small businesses or a whole department in a large corporation and can include anything from staff training to internal audits of processing activities and HR policies. Regardless, a defined budget, system, and personnel will need to be allocated.
All organizations will need to ensure they’ve carried out all the necessary impact assessments are and GDPR compliant or risk falling foul of the new directives.