What is GDPR?
The General Data Protection Regulation Law, more commonly known as GDPR, is a newly updated law within the European Union. This law took effect on May 25th 2018 with the intention of giving people control over their personal information and how it is handled by any organisation with access to that data.
Why am I receiving GDPR emails?
Because of this new law, many companies now have to update their privacy policies to comply with GDPR. These companies then have to send out update emails to make sure that their customers are aware of these changes and can opt out of any future if they desire. Not complying with this new law can land the company with a substantial fine of either 4% of the company’s global revenue or €20 Million, whichever is higher! If you are a company owner and are unsure if your site is GDPR compliant or are unsure how to make your website compliant please feel free to Contact Us or call us on 01925 563 960 and we can do it for you!
Does this law apply to me?
In short, more than likely yes. If you are a business owner that collects data of any user that is a resident of the EU then this law applies to you! Even if you are not a business located within the European Union, this law will apply to you as long as European residents have access to your website. Even if you are only a small business with few employees or even self-employed this law still does apply to you, the law may make few exceptions but on a broad scale expects every business, large or small, to comply with it.
What is required to make my website GDPR Compliant?
Whilst I will not cover all the points that the GDPR hits (as there is so many of them) I will cover the general website related issues with a broad stroke. If you would prefer us to do it for you, please feel free to Contact Us or call us on 01925 563 960.
Before collecting any data from an EU user, you must first acquire clear-cut consent that tells the user exactly what they are signing up for, what you are doing with the information that they are supplying you, where that data is being stored and how you are storing it. For example if you plan to be sending them any emails or putting them on a mailing list, they must be made abundantly aware of your intentions.
To make sure that you meet the criterion you must make sure any checkboxes that relate to sharing information are not pre-ticked and that any terms regarding their information must be separated from other terms and conditions. An effective solution to comply with this is by creating a privacy policy page that is separate from your terms and conditions page. The privacy policy page will then cover all the points regarding the user’s information in a neatly presented format. Make sure to link the user to this page so they can see it and read it before accepting!
Even though we can make your website GDPR compliant, we cannot write the privacy policy on your behalf, you will have to write this yourself. Don’t be alarmed though! WordPress, the CMS we primarily use, has now started issuing Privacy Policy templates for each new build we do so all that will be required from you is edit the supplied content to make it personal for you!
In Conclusion
If you are still concerned about your website not being GDPR compliant, please feel free to read the full GDPR document here and Contact Us or call us on 01925 563 960 if you need assistance.
