What is the GDPR?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European Union law that went into effect on May 25, 2018. It demands companies to protect personal data and enforce the privacy rights of anyone on EU State’s territory. The regulation includes seven data protection principles that must be implemented as well as eight privacy rights that must be abetted. It also empowers data protection authorities at the member state level to enforce the GDPR through penalties and fines. The regulation supersedes the 1995 Data Protection Directive, which includes a patchwork of data protection laws across the EU. The GDPR, which was passed by an overwhelming majority in the European Parliament, unites the EU under a singular data protection regime.
The GDPR applies to any institution that processes the personal data of EU citizens. “Processing” is a phrase that encompasses almost everything you can do with data: data collection, storage, transmission, analysis, and so on. “Personal data” refers to any information about a user, such as a name, email address, IP address, eye color, political affiliation, etc. Even if a company has no direct ties to the EU, it must comply if it processes the personal data of EU citizens (via tracking on its website, for example). The GDPR applies to both for-profit and non-profit businesses.
What are the requirements for GDPR compliance?
GDPR requirements apply to all European Union member states, intending to create more sustained customer and personal data protection across EU nations. The GDPR’s key privacy and data protection requirements include the following:
The 7 Data Protection Principles
- Obtaining consent
- Timely breach notification
- Right to data access
- Right to be forgotten
- Data portability
- Privacy by design
- Potential data protection officers
The 8 People’s Privacy Rights
- The right to be informed
- The right of access
- The right to rectification
- The right to erasure
- The right to restrict processing
- The right to data portability
- The right to object
- Rights concerning automated decision-making and profiling
Why should you be GDPR compliant?
Customers are more likely to do business with companies that comply with data privacy regulations. By following the GDPR rules you demonstrate that you take data privacy seriously and your company will be able to attract more business.
Customers are not likely to stay in business with a company if a data breach exposes their personal information, and they will boycott a company that appears to disregard data security regulations. Failure to comply with GDPR laws can result in serious financial, legal, and reputational damage. In addition, the GDPR empowers each country’s data protection authorities to impose sanctions and fines on organizations that violate the law. The maximum violation penalty is €20 million or 4% of global revenue, whichever is greater. Sanctions, such as data processing bans or public reprimands, can also be imposed by data protection authorities.
How to achieve compliance?
An organization can meet the requirements with the GDPR by putting in place operational and technical safeguards to protect personal information under its control. The first step is to perform a GDPR review to assess what personal data you control, where it is stored, and how it is protected. You must also follow the GDPR’s privacy laws, such as obtaining consent and ensuring data accessibility.
Organizations can automate and simplify their compliance processes by using the Centraleyes platform’s streamlined data collection and analysis, automation gap remediation, and access to real-time compliance scoring.
Furthermore, Centraleyes includes a pre-populated GDPR questionnaire that is linked to the platform’s extensive control inventory, allowing data to be shared across multiple frameworks, resulting in time and money saved, and ease of mind while heading towards compliance.
Read more:
https://gdpr.eu/tag/gdpr/
