Considering EU Clients? A Quick Guide to New GDPR Standards
Though we have laws and standards in the US that govern data security, when you're dealing with the international scene, it can make a big difference to how you do business. Though international business has often been considered the purview of importers and big business, the ready access of internet communications to other countries brings it down to the level of small business. For that reason, we've created this brief introduction to the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standard that has gone into effect in the European Union.
Generally speaking, the GDPR standard applies to anyone who is tied into EU commerce, no matter how tentatively. If your website is viewed in the EU, if you use the internet to gather data for EU-based employees, organizations that collect data on prospective members or donors in the EU all fall under the GDPR. It involves the collection of data by a business or organization from any number of sources in the EU.
The EU will be closely monitoring compliance with very high fines for noncompliance, as high as 4% of global annual turnover or 20 million Euro, whichever is higher. Organizations with any ties to the gathering, storage and processing of personal data will be watched. The hope of EU officials is that this will set a precedent for global data protection standards and changes to ensure the security of personal data around the world.
If your company has ties to this type of records that fall under the GDPR, it's important that you consider setting up a training course for any employees that may be handling that data. At a minimum, it should include some portion of your IT staff and management over any departments that handle that type of data from the EU. If the global data protection standard push continues, it wouldn't hurt to switch your company to GDPR standards overall.
By keeping up with the GDPR standards now implemented in the EU, you can make sure that your business is in line with your international clients and counterparts. If you're considering adding an international aspect to your business, have you considered updating your business plan? If you haven't, the experienced business professionals at AccountRely can help. Please feel free to contact us today to get started.
