A perspective on General Data Protection Regulation

Since 1995, the onus of protecting the privacy (personal data) of EU citizens has been carried out by the EU Data Protection Directive, also known as Directive 95/46/ EC1.

In order to harmonise the existing laws across the EU member states, address some of the inadequacies of the Directive and enhance personal data protection for individuals, the European Commission proposed General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in early 2012 as a replacement for the Directive.

This whitepaper provides an overview of the incoming General Data Protection Regulation, indicating:
• Why it was needed.
• When it comes into force.
• What it entails for the impacted companies
• How companies can go about defining and implementing their compliance strategy, particularly on the technology side.