GDPR in 2019

2018 brought us the madness of the May GDPR deadlines. Since then all has been far from quiet. We are still working with organisations who are making their very first attempt to comply. So many people were just terrified by the avalanche of information and competing instructions they just did not know where to begin. Another round of new recruits to our GDPR groups got going this Christmas. Like so many small businesses, they used the Christmas break to to start to catch up.

Brexit and GDPR

The biggest concern our clients have when it comes to GDPR is - what do we need to do for 29th March. If we Brexit on that day, the UK will become a 3rd country from the EU's point of view and some process will need to be put in place to get the EU to validate that our data standards are adequate. As we are following their rules, this does not seem to present a problem, but it may take time to start and complete the process.

The Government's focus on manufacturing and distribution is unwavering, but for our service sector clients, the issue of data sharing and data processing can't be ignored.

The proposed Brexit deal does not deal expressly with data, but if there is a transition period there may be time for someone to sort it all out by the time the eventual Brexit takes place.

GDPR is a process not a deadline

Whatever Brexit bring us it is plain that GDPR is a process and we all need to build in reviews, updates and risk analyses that take account of not just legislative change but also organisational change.

We are already talking to clients whose May 2018 policies are out of dated due to changes of purpose, technology, or corporate structure. A new product, a new service, a change of marketing strategy can impact your policies in quite profound ways.

If your systems did not build in a way of flagging up what needs to be reviewed when, it can feel as if you are drowning. Keeping those ducks in a row is not as easy at it could be if you started off with an idea that once you were compliant that was it.

Contracting with people who have access to your data is still a bit of a black hole for most people. Getting it straight with your web designer is still a big issue as most of us don't change designer every few months so this is yet to come. We are seeing web designers still blithely unaware of how this can affect their role and responsibility - as well as those who have totally taken this on board. We will be talking about that more later.

Focus for 2019

2019 will bring changes to us all and they won't just be about GDPR. For our UK clients Brexit is going to be one of many factors introducing change. Others will include the increasing use of AI (with all the lovely GDPR issues that may involve) and the changing level of awareness of their clients in terms of what they ask pre-sales and what they require in their contracts.

The elephant in the room of GDPR is the fact that reality and technology move on more rapidly than laws ever will. Honouring the spirit of GDPR without getting confused by the specifics is going to be an intersting challenge as we work through it all.

What are you plans to stay on top of it all?

Wishing you a Happy New Year. We all live in interesting times.