This post will outline some of the key points of a new GDPR law and resources where you can get yourself familiar with a GDPR (General Data Protection Law), that will come into effect in May 2018.

Note: Everything written in this article should be followed only as an advice, not as legal counseling.

What exactly is GPDR?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)  is a regulation by which the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission intend to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union.

It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU.

The GDPR aims primarily to give control back to citizens and residents over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU.

When the GDPR takes effect, it will replace the data protection directive that was originally adopted on 27 April 2016.

It becomes enforceable from 25 May 2018.

What does the new regulation mean for us?

It mostly depends on what you do with data: what kind of data you collect, how you process it and how you use it.

If you collect sensitive personal data you should look deeper into GDPR and think about getting experts on the field involved.

If you’re just owning a website or two, you shouldn’t worry on the same scale as enterprises or data processors.

But you should definitely look into it.

Most web owners will have to comply with the GDPR directive about web cookies.

Be sure that your users know how you use cookies and what you’re doing with their personal data (like names and emails).

Sanctions

Yes, there can be sanctions.

It all depends on the severity of non-compliance, but for smallest web owners and processors, they will issue a warning in writing in cases of first and non-intentional non-compliance.

Enterprises facing more severe non-compliance might face a fine up to 10 million EUR or up to 2% of the annual worldwide turnover.

14 resources to get more familiar with GDPR

Here are some of the articles on different websites we’ve found helpful.

The first link is a complete GDPR law and other are summarizations of principles inside it.

Resources:

1. Complete GDPR
2. Prepare for GDPR: 12 Steps to make now (PDF)
3. Everything you need to know about GDPR
4. GDPR on Wikipedia
5. Key changes of GDPR by eugdpr.org
6. GDPR compliance on Microsoft.com
7. 6 Points you need to know about GDPR
8. 10 key facts businesses need to note about the GDPR
9. GDPR for small businesses
10. Make your website compliant with new EU Data law
11. GDPR Summary by dataIQ
12. WIRED’s complete GDPR guide
13. GDPR Facts on csoonline.com
14. Consent Assist – cookie consent to comply with GDPR
15. ClickTime about GDPR

Conclusion

If you’re small business/website owner make sure you have a consent to take user’s personal data and set 3rd party (or identifier) cookies.

Also, make sure you have records of those consents and make easy for users to opt-out. It’s also very important that you let your users know how you use their data.

All opt-ins should be given freely by the user, no soft opt-ins should be used.

Get Consent Assist widget

Consent Assist is a Cookie consent solution that will help you comply with EU GDPR cookie directive – and also convert users.

Under the GDPR you need consent for some of the cookies on your website. For example, if you use 3rd party cookies, you need user’s consent. You also need users consent if you further process data from local storage, cookies or personal information like email and name.

We help you do that with a few clicks, check out the Consent Assist here.

Not to mention we’ll help you get more leads and feedbacks.

And why pay for custom messenger widget integration, if we can link your facebook page messenger inside the widget for free?