Five Steps to Ensure My Business is GDPR Compliant?

As a business owner, you must ensure you handle personal data correctly. Importantly, you must comply with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Failing to comply with the GDPR can mean a fine of up to £17.5 million or 4 per cent of your business’s yearly earnings. This article will explain GDPR compliance and how your business can ensure you are not violating your data protection obligations. 

The General Data Protection Regulation

Anyone who processes, uses or controls the personal data of a person residing within the European Union must abide by the GDPR. That can include small businesses to multinational companies. If you are operating a business in England and Wales, your business will likely be subject to the principles outlined in the GDPR. For that reason, you will need to work out a strategy to stay in line with the GDPR requirements.

Under the GDPR, you must handle personal data correctly and with care. Personal data is defined as any piece of information you can use to identify someone with. That can extend to more sensitive pieces of information like:

• a person’s ethnic origin;
• their political views; or 
• their religious beliefs.

If you leak a piece of personal data to members of the public, particularly if that information is sensitive, it can damage the person it relates to, so you must prevent it. 

You can verify if you are GDPR compliant by completing a Data Protection Impact Assessment. That assessment will describe your business’ risks through its current data processing arrangements.

Five Steps to GDPR Compliance 

1. Establish Whether You are a Data Controller or Data Processor

As a business using and storing personal information, you need to identify whether you are a data controller or a processor, as each is regulated differently under the GDPR. 

Data controllers dictate how and why personal information is stored and processed. They can be any business that asks customers for information, i.e. email addresses or phone numbers. Amazon is an example of a data controller that retrieves your email address, which they will then use for marketing and administrative purposes. 

Data processors collect, analyse and extract information from data. A data processor is typically a business that keeps personal information on behalf of a controller. Examples of data processors include companies like MailChimp, which stores, organises and processes personal email addresses. 

Under the GDPR, data controllers are responsible for regulating themselves and any processors that operate for them. Meanwhile, data processors are required to document how they handle personal information.

2. Keep Privacy Notices Up to Date

Businesses are advised to review and update their privacy notices every few months. Under the GDPR, you have to disclose what you are using personal data for. You must state: 

• how you are legally allowed to process personal information; 
• how long you are going to keep that information for;
• a person’s rights to request access or deletion of their data; and 
• how someone can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office if they believe you’re wrongfully holding their information?  Talk to Your Employees About Data Privacy

Businesses like yours need to train their employees on the importance of protecting personal information. Your employees will play an integral role in the following:

• storage;
• transfer; and 
• administration of information.

Therefore, you need to educate them on ensuring that they handle data according to the GDPR.

UK Startup Manual

LegalVision’s Startup Manual is essential reading material for any startup founder looking to launch and grow a successful startup.

Download Now

3. Talk to Your Employees About Data Privacy

Businesses like yours need to train their employees on the importance of protecting personal information. Your employees will play an integral role in the following:

• storage;
• transfer; and 
• administration of information.

Therefore, you need to educate them on ensuring that they handle data according to the GDPR.

4. Check the Security of Your Data Storage

Checking the security of your data storage is perhaps the most crucial step to ensuring that your business is GDPR compliant. To prevent data breaches, it is advisable to ensure all your storage devices and drives housing personal data are up to date with the latest security measures. As part of this, you should ensure they are both password protected and encrypted.

5. Implement Strategies for Data Breaches

Despite the measures you put in place to prevent a data breach, it can still happen. Therefore, it is advisable to have provisions in place for managing and dealing with data breaches to ensure that you can limit the amount of personal information being leaked. 

It is also important to contact those who have had their data compromised to ensure they can take action to protect their personal information. 

Key Takeaways

The GDPR requires you to securely store and safeguard personal data you collect from members of the public. You must ensure your business is GDPR compliant. You can take steps to ensure your business is GDPR compliant, such as keeping privacy notices up to date and checking storage security. A lawyer’s advice is advisable if you are concerned your business may not comply. 

If you need help ensuring your business meets the standards imposed by the new regulations, our experienced data, privacy and IT lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on [number] or visit our membership page.

Frequently Asked Questions?