Today I will tell you What is GDPR? And how to comply with it in the EU, so if you want to know about it, then keep reading this article completely. Because I am going to give you complete information about it, so let’s start.
For most organizations out there today that hold and transmit sensitive data, like customer data or otherwise, there are several new hurdles that need to be cleared. These are brand new data regulation hurdles instituted by the global GDPR data protection and regulatory framework that are currently affecting how almost every company on Earth does business. This is particularly true for US businesses because US regulations differ greatly from those in Europe and do not align that well.
As you all know, the full form of GDPR is General Data Protection Regulation. The GDPR does not only apply to large multinational companies but any organization that deals with data pertaining to European citizens. This means anything from one-person enterprises to conglomerates that employ hundreds of thousands of employees. The fines that can be incurred by organizations not complying with the global GDPR regulation can be colossal, and the total amount of penalties already handed out is in the billions.
A single fine can exceed 20 million Euros in some cases. What makes complying even more difficult is that the criteria for the GDPR are extremely complex, and often misunderstood or even not understood at all by several organizations that do not employ a specialized compliance officer. The sudden onset of the GDPR has been a shock to those that were unprepared and unaware.
Data regulation and privacy regulations are nothing new (although the GDPR itself is just 4 years old). The fact that over 5 billion people have access to the internet today, combined with 40 billion online devices globally, and the sheer amount of user data being retained and processed by all sizes of organizations, institutions, and businesses, the need to regulate all of this on a global level is clear for two reasons. The first reason is security, and the second is user data privacy.
Modern internet users have expressed great concern over what is being done with their data. For instance, several high-profile scandals have revealed that user data is being sold to third parties or accessed without user consent. As for security, cybercrime has accounted for trillions of dollars in losses to the world economy, often caused by unsecured systems. The former is mainly why regulations like the GDPR are in effect today.
Several regulations already exist that protect medical information, children, and more (HIPAA and COPPA respectively.) Numerous countries around the world have instituted proprietary regulations surrounding data protection and the protection of users. For instance, the US also has its model of a GDPR-like framework known as the CCPA, but it is not nearly as comprehensive or strict as the GDPR due to the makeup of the US federal government and the fact that data is not controlled by a central entity like it is in the EU. Instead, individual US states decide on how to approach these regulations.
What is GDPR?
According to the official EU government GDPR website, “The EU General Data Protection Regulation also requires companies outside the European Union to safeguard personal data. This GDPR compliance checklist covers tips specifically for US companies.” The law requires organizations to keep data safe as well as give people more control over how their data is processed and stored. The law, apart from regulating organizations, applies more to “data subjects” (a person in the EU).
This includes any citizen, resident, or even visitor that is located in the European Union. If any information is collected by any organization about a data subject, the law takes effect. This organization may be anywhere in the world. This data could be a simple email address or something as complex as a marketing list of IP addresses. Several criteria define what constitutes personal data under the GDPR regulation.
How to Comply With the GDPR as a US Business!
The EU and the US are among the world’s largest economies and are both first-world regions. For those reasons, the amount of digital data stored in these regions greatly eclipses that of smaller countries and regions. This digital data can contain everything from intellectual property to the records of hundreds of millions of customers. When it comes to the US and the EU particularly, the trans-Atlantic data highway is critical.
After all, the US and the EU share a colossal amount of data and transmit that data back and forth every second. What does this mean for you if you are a US organization that has to comply with the GDPR? The best thing you can do right now is, before any of this, appoint a data protection officer. This will save you a ton of headaches down the road.
First of all, it is important to determine whether you need to comply with the GDPR. That is, if you hold the personal data of one single EU citizen, you must enter the compliance process. This means conducting an information audit for EU personal data. Next, you must inform your customers why you are processing their data based on their consent or under the lawfulness of the processing.
This likely includes an update of your Privacy Policy. Following this, you must institute a data protection impact assessment and implement the required data security practices and organizational safeguards that the GDPR requires of you. Following this, the next step is to ensure the same criteria apply to the vendors or third parties you do business with. Adding to that, you will be required to designate a representative based on one of the EU member states.
Since trans-Atlantic data transfers between the US and the EU are considered cross-border transfers, it would be adamant at this point to cross-check whether you are required to self-certify under the US Privacy Shield Framework.
Finally, your organization must take an in-depth look at the GDPR compliance checklist, which can be found on the official GDPR portal where you can also find the tools, forms, and templates required to optimally comply and not incur hefty fines down the road.
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