Lymington Directory 1 June/July 2018

WHAT 0N EARTH IS GDPR?
You may have heard about the General
Data Protection Regulations which are just
become law but may not have any idea
what it means for regular people. You’re
not alone. To fully explain GDPR would
take more space than I have here, but I
hope to give you an idea of how it affects
you.
The reasoning behind GDPR is that
businesses have been playing fast and
loose with our personal information,
without too much in the way of risk to
themselves. For large companies, a fine of
£500,000 isn’t really a deterrent. £17m or
4% of annual turnover, whichever is
higher, hurts a bit more.
But it’s not just about what happens when
things go wrong. GDPR also gives the little
man the right to know what information a
company is holding about them, how long
they intend to hold it, what justification
they have to do so and the right to have
the information completely destroyed.
If there is a valid legal reason, such as part
of a contract, then there is no right to be
forgotten. But otherwise companies have
to comply with removal requests within a
reasonable timescale and can be reported
to the Information Commissioners Office,
who have much more power now, if they
don’t.
Companies also have to publicly publish
how they deal with your personal information
and how long they intend to hold
on to it. They also have to say how
individuals can contact them with queries
or requests specifically relating to personal
data.
These details are commonly linked to on
company websites, so look for links to
things like Personal Data Protection Policy,
Data Retention Policy or Data Privacy
Notice at the bottom of website pages, or
in their legal sections.
Most importantly, they cannot keep your
information without your consent if they
have no other reason to keep it. There is
something called ‘Legitimate Interest’ as
well as legal contracts which allow data
retention, but companies can only use
your data for the use they are claiming
legitimate interest. They can’t for instance
add you to their email list as well if they
don’t have your explicit consent to do so.
Companies have to renew any consent you
give on a regular basis and if they ask you,
and you don’t reply, they have to remove
you from their records. See
www.ico.org.uk for more information.
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