Sallianne Cockerham, owner/founder of London Law Firm – Southampton Row Solicitors considers the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which applies to all EU Member States including the UK from 25 May 2018. It is the biggest change to Data Protection law in 20 years.
What does the GDPR do?
The GDPR strengthens existing data protection rules through a number of measures including:
- An expansion of individual data protection rights, including the right to be forgotten.
- Toughening the rules on individual consent to processing sensitive data.
- Shortening the timescale for responding to ‘subject access requests’ from 40 days to one month and removing the current fee.
- Requiring organisations to report any data breaches which ‘risk the rights and freedoms of the individual’ to the regulatory authority, and where there is a high risk of this, to the individual affected as well.
Breaches of the GDPR may lead to fines of up to 20 million Euros or 4% of global turnover, whichever is the greater. The Information Commissioner’s Office will be in charge of enforcing any breaches.
One must look at the GDPR in tandem with the Data Protection Bill introduced on 13 September 2017 as this will replace the existing Data Protection Act 1998 and sets new standards for protecting general data in accordance with the GDPR, while retaining certain UK exemptions.
If you would like to discuss any commercial or contract/business issues, please contact Sallianne Cockerham on 07887 526799 or email:sallianne@southamptonrowsolicitors.com
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