The General Data Protection Regulation 

The General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). It also addresses the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas. The GDPR's primary aim is to give individuals control over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU.^[1] Superseding the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC, the regulation contains provisions and requirements related to the processing of personal data of individuals (formally called data subjects in the GDPR) who are located in the EEA, and applies to any enterprise—regardless of its location and the data subjects' citizenship or residence—that is processing the personal information of individuals inside the EEA.

What are my main responsibilities under GDPR?
Your responsibilities under GDPR will depend on the nature of your business and your personal data processing activities.  Nonetheless, broadly speaking, GDPR requires that personal data be:

Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner,
Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner incompatible with those purposes,
Adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary for achieving those purposes,
Accurate and kept up to date
Stored no longer than necessary to achieve the purposes for which it was collected, and
Properly secured against accidental loss, destruction or damage.

Further, GDPR places additional obligations on companies to document their processing activities and be able to demonstrate their compliance with the above principles.  It also codifies the requirement that companies apply data protection by design and by default when developing and designing processes, products and systems.  

In addition, if you use service providers to process personal data on your behalf, you will need to ensure that you have an appropriate contract in place that ensures that they are obligated to apply GDPR’s data processing standards. Similarly, if you are transferring EU personal data outside the EU, you may only do so if it is being transferred to a country deemed by the EU Commission to have adequate data processing regulations.  For transfers to countries not deemed adequate, you must ensure appropriate alternative safeguards are in place.  Currently, under the Directive, approved transfer safeguards include the EU-US Privacy Shield and standard contractual clauses.

Depending on the nature of your business and your personal data processing activities there are various other GDPR obligations that may apply.  You should consult with a qualified privacy professional to understand how GDPR applies to your specific business.

What’s the definition of “personal data” under the GDPR?
Personal data means data that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person (aka “data subject”). An identifiable data subject is someone who can be identified, directly or indirectly, such as by reference to an identifier like a name, an ID number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.

Importantly, this is a very broad definition and can encompass data like IP addresses of a user’s personal device, their device ID, or their phone number.  It does not matter that the identifier could change (e.g., that the user could change their phone number or device ID). What matters is that the information can be used to “pick that user out of the crowd” even if you don’t know who that user is.  

It is also important to note that the definition of personal data is not tied to concerns about identity theft the way that definitions of personally identifying information (PII) are under many US data breach laws.  So, even if it seems like there would be little privacy harm if someone got ahold of your users’ IP addresses, that does not mean that those IP addresses are not personal data.  It just means that this data may not require the same level of data protection as more sensitive personal data like your users’ credit card numbers.

Do I have to appoint a Data Protection Officer for the GDPR?

It depends. Article 37 of GDPR says that entities are required to designate a data protection officer if:

1. The processing is carried out by a public authority or body (except courts acting in their judicial capacity);
2. The core activity of the entity consist of personal data processing that amounts to or requires regular or systematic monitoring of EU individuals on a large scale;
3. The core activity of the entity consists of large-scale processing of special categories of data (racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data used to identify a person, or data concerning health, a person’s sex life or sexual orientation) and personal data relating to criminal convictions or offenses.

The Working Party 29 (a group of data protection regulators in the EU) has provided additional guidance to help you determine if you fit within one of these categories.  

Are there any circumstances when GDPR does not apply?

GDPR has broad scope and reach.  That said, it is not unlimited.  So, if you do not have an establishment in the Union and you do not process personal data of EU individuals, GDPR will not apply to your activities.   If you do not know whether you process EU personal data, then you should consider whether you are offering any goods and services (even free ones) to individuals in the EU or if you’re monitoring the behavior of individuals in the EU.  If so, then you are subject to GDPR.  Recital 23 of GDPR does indicate that GDPR is not intended to apply to entities that may inadvertently process EU personal data, but are not trying to provide their goods or services to people in the EU.

My company is ISO 27001 compliant. Will this help with my compliance towards GDPR?

Compliance with standards such as ISO 27001 can be helpful for compliance with GDPR, particularly with regard to security of processing, but GDPR compliance and ISO 27001 compliance are not interchangeable.  Therefore, you should not assume that if you’re ISO 27001 compliant that you are also GDPR compliant.

What are the penalties for non-compliance with GDPR?

Depending on the nature of the violation, data protection authorities may issue fines or penalties for non-compliance up to € 20 million or 4% of global revenue.

Further reading on GDPR
A lot has been written about GDPR. So a simple web search will likely result in quite a bit of information. Further, Hitech will be providing additional guidance and information related to GDPR via its website. That said, the most authoritative resources will always be those produced by data protection regulators or the Union itself.  Of particular use are the guidance documents produced by the Working Party 29 which provide insight into how EU data protection regulators, who are charged with enforcement of the GDPR, will likely interpret the regulation.

The above information is Hitech’s interpretation of GDPR and its requirements as of the date of publication.  Please note that not all interpretations or requirements of the GDPR are well-settled and its application is fact and context specific.  This information should not be relied upon as legal advice or to determine how GDPR applies to your business or organization. We encourage you to seek guidance of a qualified professional with regard to how the GDPR applies specifically to your business or organization  and how to ensure compliance. This information is provided “as-is” and may be updated or changed without notice. You may copy and use this posting for your internal, reference purposes only.