Post summary:
- What exactly is GDPR and what does it mean? The new EU legislation has had an impact on enterprises all across the world. In this post, we explain the new EU privacy law’s what, how, and why.
- What are the GDPR’s commercial implications? How will your company, whether situated in the EU or not, comply with the lengthy list of GDPR “articles”?
- GDPR will have an impact on how you interact, but how? Personal data handling has changed, and this applies to both prospect and customer data.
What is GDPR?
GDPR is an abbreviation for the General Data Protection Regulation.
This legislation has been incorporated into all local privacy laws throughout the EU and EEA region. It will apply to all firms selling to and storing personal information on European individuals, including those on other continents.
GDPR implies that EU and EEA people now have more control over their personal data and reassurance that their information is safely secured across Europe.
Personal data is defined as any information relating to a person, such as a name, a photo, an email address, bank details, updates on social networking websites, geographical details, medical information, or a computer IP address, according to the GDPR law.
The 8 basic rights of GDPR
- Individuals have the following rights under the GDPR:
- Individuals have the right to seek access to their personal data and to inquire about how their data is handled by the firm once it has been collected. If asked, the firm shall give a free copy of the personal data in electronic format.
- The right to be forgotten entitles consumers to have their personal data destroyed if they are no longer clients or if they withdraw their agreement for a corporation to use their personal data.
- Individuals have the right to data portability, which allows them to move their data from one service provider to another. And it must take place in a widely accepted and machine-readable format.
- The right to be informed entails any data collection by a company, and individuals must be notified before data is collected. Consumers must consent to the collection of personal data, and consent must be freely provided rather than inferred.
- The right to have information repaired guarantees that persons’ data is kept up to date if it is out of date, incomplete, or wrong.
- Individuals have the right to request that their personal data not be used for processing. Their record can be kept but will not be utilised.
- Individuals have the right to object to the use of personal data for direct marketing purposes. There are no exceptions to this rule, and all processing must come to a halt.
- The right to be notified – If a data breach exposes an individual’s personal data, the individual has the right to be notified within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach.
The business implications of GDPR
This new data protection rule puts the customer in charge, and businesses and organisations are responsible for complying with it. Otherwise, you are not complying.
What is covered by GDPR compliance?
GDPR applies to all enterprises and organisations based in the EU, regardless of whether data is processed in the EU or not. GDPR will apply to established non-EU entities as well. If your company sells products or services to EU people, it is subject to GDPR.
All organisations and businesses that handle personal data should appoint a data protection officer or data controller to oversee GDPR compliance.
Companies and organisations who fail to comply with GDPR face fines of up to 4% of annual global revenue or 20 million Euros, whichever is larger.
How seriously does the EU take GDPR?
Taken very seriously.
For example, both British Airways and Marriott International are facing massive fines of hundreds of millions of dollars or euros for failing to comply.
- British Airways faces fines of up to €200 million for a data breach in September 2018.
- Marriott International is set to pay a punishment of over €99 million for a data breach that occurred between 2014 and 2018.
Many people believe that the GDPR is only an IT concern, but this could not be farther from reality. It has far-reaching ramifications for the whole organisation, including how businesses manage marketing and sales operations.