How Strict Data Protection Laws in the U.K. Can Affect Your Business (XBIZ)

Read the full article by Brian Gray at XBIZ.com

If you’re reading this article and you’re somewhere in the European Union, your various email inboxes will already have been bursting at the seams over the past few weeks as all sorts of organizations went into panic mode as GDPR day — May 25 — came closer. In the U.K., one day before the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) became enforceable, the Information Commissioner’s Office website actually crashed under the deluge of last minute requests for information and assistance.

If you’re outside of the E.U. however, don’t automatically assume you’re absolved of any responsibility. If you’re holding any personal data of an E.U. citizen — whether suppliers, customers, employees — then you’re bound to adhere to the GDPR too, regardless of whether you’re based in Tampa, Tokyo, and everywhere in between.

So why is the GDPR important? Put simply, it gives consumers a number of rights regarding their personal data. These are: 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; and finally rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling.