What GDPR stands for? – an Overview

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a resolution enacted by the European Union. The sole purpose of it is to safeguard the private data of European citizens. It makes the processing of personal data by government and private organisations more transparent. In this day and age, private data is vulnerable to misuse. The 11 chapters of the GDPR include various provisions such as principles, general provisions, data rights, supervisory authorities, duties of data controllers, and so on.

The GDPR applies to European citizens and organisations/businesses that are established in Europe. GDPR compliance applies to any company that markets services or goods to the residents of the European Union, regardless of its location. By ensuring compliance with GDPR, your business can improve the protection of customer data, build trust with them, and can also avoid paying hefty penalties. It is suggested that such GDPR compliance is carried out under the guidance of experts who handle such work on a day-to-day basis. Vakilsearch is one such organisation that will handle this for you.

Benefits of GDPR Compliance

• Protects consumer data
• Builds trust between the consumers and the business
• Prevents penalties that arise from non-compliance
• Data management becomes smoother
• Creates awareness of security vulnerabilities
• Makes the enterprise responsible and accountable for processing data and preventing misuse
• Improves brand reputation.

GDPR compliance can support and boost your business. It has a positive impact which is why it is advised to be more compliant and fulfilling all duties provided under the GDPR.

Procedure of Being GDPR Compliant

• Step 1: Document all the personal data received from website users, and to whom it is shared with
• Step 2: Users should be provided with an opt-out option, by stating what kind of cookies are on the website and that it can track their location
• Step 3: Two documents to record the consent of clients/customers, to use their information. One records who gave consent, and the other records who haven’t
• Step 4: Ensure the rights of individuals are provided with their personal data so that their data can be deleted upon request (usually within one month)
• Step 5: Only store clients/customers data, with their consent
• Step 6: Data is to be stored for the shortest period possible, and deleted when the work with the data is done. If not, the customer should be informed
• Step 7: If a customer deletes their account, try to reach out to the person for consent if you can store their data
• Step 8: Make sure you have procedures in place to detect, report, and investigate breaches of data
• Step 9: Designate an officer to take responsibility for data protection compliance. If not, make sure users are informed
• Step 10: A data retention schedule has to be created in accordance with the data destruction policy, to periodically destroy the data that reaches the retention deadline
• Step 11: The company’s computer systems must be encrypted, and should maintain a record of physical security of data such as paper filings, USB disks etc
• Step 12: The right to be informed, to eliminate, to modify, to access, to data portability, to restrict data processing, to object, to automated decision making and profiling.