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When it comes to data protection, understand EU law and how your business can maintain compliance with this GDPR checklist.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was agreed upon by the European Council in 2016. The GDPR changes apply to all member states of the European Union, and they create better protection of consumer rights and personal data across the European Union.
Any company that sells goods or services to EU residents is subject to the GDPR compliance. GDPR will have an impact on all types of data protection around the world. Even you have a business located in a non-EU country, you still have to comply with GDPR regulations if you sell goods or services to every single customer within the EU.
We have compiled a GDPR checklist to ensure you maintain GDPR compliance at all times with your EU consumers. Continue reading below to see our GDPR checklist.
Access Data
In order to comply with the GDPR rules, you need to know exactly who has access to all data sources. You must also be aware of what personal data is being stored and limit access to irrelevant people. Your consumers should also have access to the information that you hold on them if they request it.
Identify Data
Once you have accessed all your data sources, you will need to inspect them and identify which data can be found in each source. You will need to categorize and catalog all data elements and identify them. This includes names, email addresses, Social Security numbers, house addresses, phone numbers, and any other pieces of data that you hold about your consumers.
You should consider compliance management software that will make standardization and data storage easy for your business. Using the correct software will help your business maintain compliance with the GDPR regulations.
Govern Data
As a company, you must ensure that your entire organization can define exactly what personal data is and what it means. Your privacy rules and procedures must be documented and shared across all of your platforms and different lines of business.
This insures the only people who need to access personal data can and will have the proper authorization to access this data. Every business needs to ensure they have clear business roles and establish a governance model. This will provide you with control.
Protect Data
Under the GDPR regulations, you are required to protect the data that you collect from consumers. This includes encryption and anonymization of any data that you collect.
You must ensure that any data that you collect is protected with the appropriate methods and your consumers know how their data is protected.
The simplest way to protect data is to simply delete it when you no longer need it. Keep your data up to to date and only store data that you need at that time.
Audit Data
If you are a company that sells goods or services to any EU residence, you will need to continue to audit your data centers to ensure that consumer data is held appropriately and securely.
You will also need to ensure that you update the database regularly and delete customer information if requested.
Follow the GDPR Checklist to Maintain Compliance Today!
Follow our GDPR checklist above to ensure that you maintain GDPR compliance. Maintaining GDPR compliance is crucial for the success of your business in the EU.
For more information on business compliance, take a look at the other articles on our blog.
