Since May 2018, the European General Data Protection Regulation (EU DS-GVO/GDPR) has been in effect for all companies in the EU, regardless of size, business type and visibility in society. The consequences of not complying with this binding regulation are, in comparison to earlier regulations, very serious and can amount to EUR 20 million or up to four percent of the global company income. Many companies, who wish to avoid these high penalties, would rather err on the side of caution and put too many measures in place.
In the worst-case scenario, these measures harm company business more than actually protecting the personal data of those effected. A proper understanding of the reasons for the respective rules and regulations is therefore crucial to allow for an informed choice of the appropriate measures. It is also especially important to make sure that your business processes continue to run efficiently, while remaining in complete compliance with the EU DS-GVO regulations.
There are 69 cases for which the European General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) prescribes that individual EU member states specify local regulations for the handling of specific personal data and that these should be ratified in the local laws.
Does your company already have a data protection management system (DPMS) that you would like assessed as to its readiness for implementation, or are you preparing for an upcoming audit or test? Before you tackle these processes, a data protection assessment is necessary to show whether the requirements of the EU GDPR and the BDSG have been adequately implemented.
Management has the explicit responsibility for implementing the EU GDPR at the company. However, the company data protection officer must have well-founded and specialist knowledge, as well as the corresponding expertise in statutory data protection in order to effectively carry out their operative tasks. Training is required for this and should ideally be completed with a recognised certificate.