Becoming GDPR compliant might seem tough if you don’t know where to start. But there’s no need to worry! We’re here to guide you. Discover the key steps to becoming GDPR-compliant, ensuring your organization respects privacy and data protection standards at every turn.
Keep reading, and learn how to follow GDPR rules step by step.
Before we delve into the steps, let’s first equip ourselves with an understanding of the key concepts ⬇️
What is GDPR?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a data protection law that came into effect on May 25, 2018, in the European Union (EU). It was designed to give individuals more control over their personal data and to unify data protection regulations across all EU member states, making it one of the most significant pieces of legislation on privacy and data protection in the world.
Who does GDPR apply to?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies to:
Organizations established within the EU: Regardless of where the data processing takes place, if your organization is based in the European Union and processes personal data, GDPR applies.
Organizations outside the EU offering goods or services to individuals in the EU: If your organization is not based in the EU but offers goods or services (paid or for free) to individuals in the EU, GDPR applies. This is true even if you’re not collecting personal data directly from the EU but are targeting EU residents with your offerings.
Organizations outside the EU that monitor the behavior of individuals in the EU: If your organization monitors the behavior of individuals within the EU, such as through tracking their online activities, GDPR applies. This includes the use of cookies for behavioral advertising directed at EU residents.
💡 Consider that the regulation’s broad scope means that a wide range of organizations, from multinational corporations to small and medium-sized enterprises, and even individuals who process personal data in a professional context, need to comply with GDPR if they are involved in handling personal data of individuals in the EU.
Why is GDPR compliance important for your business?
GDPR compliance is important for any business handling personal data, especially those operating within or dealing with individuals in the European Union. Here are several reasons why GDPR compliance is important for your business:
Legal Obligation and Avoidance of Fines: Compliance with GDPR is a legal requirement for businesses processing the personal data of individuals in the EU and EEA. Non-compliance can lead to significant fines, up to €20 million or 4% of the annual global turnover, whichever is higher.
Builds Trust and Reputation: Demonstrating compliance with GDPR helps build trust with your customers and enhances your business’s reputation. Customers are more likely to engage with businesses they trust to protect their personal data.
Data Security: GDPR mandates that businesses implement appropriate security measures to protect personal data.
Facilitates International Data Transfers: For businesses operating internationally, GDPR compliance simplifies the legal framework for transferring personal data outside the EU and EEA, making it easier to operate across borders.
Improves Data Management: GDPR requires businesses to maintain a clear picture of the personal data they process, why they process it, and how long they retain it.
Enhances Accountability and Governance: GDPR introduces the principle of accountability, requiring businesses to not only comply with the regulation but also to demonstrate their compliance through documentation, data protection impact assessments, and data protection policies.
Aligns with Consumer Rights: GDPR strengthens and expands the rights of individuals, giving them greater control over their personal data.
In summary, GDPR compliance is not just a legal requirement; it’s a comprehensive approach to data protection that can improve your business’s operations and provide a solid framework for ethical and secure data processing activities.
What is required to be GDPR compliant?
To be GDPR compliant, organizations are required to:
Identify a Lawful Basis for Processing: You must have a valid reason to process personal data, such as consent from the individual, a contract, legal obligations, vital interests, public task, or legitimate interests.
Respect Individuals’ Rights: This includes the rights to access, correct, delete, and transfer their data, among others.
Implement Data Protection Measures: Adequate security measures must be in place to protect data from loss, alteration, or unauthorized access. This can involve encryption, regular security assessments, and ensuring data is collected and stored securely.
Maintain Transparency: Organizations must be clear about how they use personal data. This is typically done through a privacy policy that is easily accessible and understandable.
Conduct Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA): For high-risk processing activities, it’s important to assess how these activities affect personal data and to mitigate risks.
Appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO): If your organization’s core activities require large scale, regular monitoring of individuals, or involve large scale processing of special categories of data, you need to appoint a DPO.
Prepare for Data Breaches: Have procedures in place to detect, report, and investigate personal data breaches.
How do I become fully GDPR compliant?
To be fully GDPR compliant, follow these steps:
Check if GDPR applies to you: Figure out if your activities need to follow GDPR.
Know your data: Understand what personal data you have, why you use it, where it’s from, and who can see it.
Find a legal reason for using data: Make sure you have a legal basis for handling personal data.
Protect data: Put in place strong security measures and keep them updated to protect privacy.
Share your privacy policy: Tell people clearly about how you use data and their rights in your privacy policy.
Respect people’s rights: Be ready to quickly handle requests from people about their data.
Appoint a Data Protection Officer: If required, appoint a DPO to focus on following data protection laws.
Train your team: Make sure everyone knows about GDPR and how to stay compliant.
Check regularly: Keep reviewing how you handle data and your GDPR compliance to fix any issues.
GDPR Website Compliance 🌐
What does GDPR mean for websites?
For websites, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) signifies a comprehensive set of rules designed to enhance the protection of personal data for individuals within the European Union (EU). Here’s what GDPR means for websites:
Consent: Obtain explicit user consent for data collection and processing activities.
Transparency: Clearly disclose data collection, use, and sharing practices.
Data Rights: Respect users’ rights to access, correct, delete, or transfer their data.
Data Security: Implement strong measures to protect personal data.
Data Breaches: Report breaches to authorities within 72 hours; inform affected individuals when necessary.
Accountability: Demonstrate compliance through records and assessments.
Remember that GDPR affects all websites dealing with EU citizens’ data, emphasizing privacy, security, and user rights.
How to Comply with GDPR if I have a Website?
To make your website GDPR compliant, start by understanding what personal data is and how it’s used on your site. Clearly inform visitors through a privacy notice or cookie banner about the use of their data and ensure you have their explicit consent before collecting any information. Allow users to access, correct, or delete their data upon request. Implement strong security measures to protect this data and have a plan ready in case of a data breach. If you use third-party services, make sure they are GDPR compliant too. Depending on your website’s operations, you may need to appoint a Data Protection Officer. Remember, compliance is mandatory if your site targets or serves EU residents, regardless of where your website is based.
➡️ After understanding the significance of GDPR for your business and grasping the compliance requirements—including for GDPR website compliance—it’s time to pivot towards actionable steps for achieving compliance. Let’s transition from comprehending the ‘what’ and ‘why’ to adeptly navigating the ‘how’ of GDPR compliance.
Steps to GDPR compliance 🛡️
There are a few steps that will help you determine how to be GDPR compliant. Answering these questions below will help you determine whether GDPR applies to you and what you should do to comply.
Let’s start!
Step 1: Does GDPR apply to you?
The first thing you need to assess is whether GDPR applies to you.
GDPR usually applies to organizations, companies, individuals, corporations, public authorities, and other entities that:
are based in the EU;
offer goods or services (even for free) to people in the EU;
monitor the behavior of people in the EU, either directly or as a third party.
So GDPR can apply outside European borders, too: it’s called extraterritorial scope.
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More on GDPR
This article is a part of our series on GDPR and GDPR compliance. Read also:
The second step to compliance is to determine whether you actually process personal data.
Most likely, you do because the GDPR defines personal data as any data related to an identified or identifiable living person. This includes information that can lead to identifying a person or even data that has been pseudonymized or encrypted, if the encryption/anonymization is reversible.
📌 If you do process personal data, here’s what you need to do
You need a valid legal basis for the processing: your activity is unlawful without it. The GDPR has six legal bases; you can check them here.*
You should inform your users that you are collecting their data. To do so, you need a privacy policy. It’s a legal document that contains all information about your data processing activity: what data you’re collecting, how you’re using it, who has access to it, how you’re keeping it safe. Please note that your privacy policy should be written in a simple language and accessible throughout your website or app. Check our website privacy policy sample to have a better idea.
Step 3: *Is consent your legal basis?
If so, then there are a few extra steps to take to be GDPR-compliant.
Make sure the consent you obtain from users is verifiable.
Consent must always be “explicit and freely given.” This means that the mechanism for acquiring consent must be unambiguous and involve a clear “opt-in” action (the regulation specifically forbids pre-ticked boxes and similar “opt-out” mechanisms). Moreover, you must also give your users the possibility to withdraw their consent.
Keep clear records of consent. You should be able to demonstrate: when consent was provided, by whom, which preferences were expressed, which legal or privacy notice they were presented with at the time, and which form they were presented with at the time.
Step 4: Do you keep the data safe?
Now, it’s your responsibility to keep the data you’ve collected safely from any loss, theft, or cyberattacks.
The GDPR states that you must implement “appropriate technical and organizational measures” to secure the data collected. For example, you should encrypt, pseudonymize and anonymize the data whenever possible.
Another key point is to train your staff. A team that is unaware of basic data protection measures could inadvertently share confidential information or give access to the data to the wrong person.
Carry out a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA): a DPIA is a process used to help organizations comply effectively with the GDPR and minimize data protection risks. A DPIA isn’t always mandatory, but it’s safe to carry out one when you don’t know how risky your processing activity could be for users.
Have a process in place for data breaches. A data breach could happen anytime. Therefore, you must have a process in place to notify the Supervisory Authority and the affected users.
Step 5: Who is responsible for GDPR compliance within your organization?
Someone within your organization should be responsible for GDPR compliance.
If you are based in the EU, you may need to appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO). A DPO is a person with knowledge of data protection law, whose role includes monitoring internal compliance with GDPR and overseeing data protection strategy and implementation. However, appointing a DPO isn’t always mandatory: you can check the specific cases here.
If you are based outside the EU, you must appoint an EU representative, a person who can handle Data Protection Authorities’ requests on your behalf. Moreover, you may also need to appoint a DPO, as explained above.
Step 6: Can you fulfill your users’ requests?
Under the GDPR, users have specific rights, and you must be able to fulfil any request deriving from them. More specifically, it should be easy for your users to:
🔎 Summary of Essential Steps to Ensure GDPR Compliance
Step
Action
Explanation
1
Check if GDPR Applies
GDPR applies if you are in the EU, offer goods/services to EU people, or monitor their behavior. It can also apply outside the EU.
2
Determine if You Process Personal Data
If you handle data that can identify a person, you likely process personal data. You need a valid reason for this and must inform your users through a privacy policy.
3
Check if Consent is Your Legal Basis
If you use consent to process data, make sure it’s explicit and verifiable. Users must be able to opt-in freely and withdraw consent anytime. Keep clear records of consent.
4
Ensure Data Safety
You are responsible for keeping collected data safe. Use encryption, train your staff, assess data protection risks, and have a data breach response plan.
5
Identify Who is Responsible for GDPR
Appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO) if required. If outside the EU, appoint an EU representative to handle data protection requests.
6
Fulfill Users’ Requests
Be ready to let users access, correct, delete their data, or restrict its processing. Ensure they can easily exercise their rights under GDPR.
As you see, being GDPR compliant requires a series of careful evaluations. A careless approach could expose you to massive fines and official reprimands.
That’s why it’s always wise to seek professional advice or rely on quality software, like iubenda! ⬇️
iubenda makes it easy for you to follow GDPR rules!
🚀 We offer a complete set of solutions that remove the guesswork from being compliant.
🚀 We’re here to help your website, app, and organization meet all GDPR requirements.
