Law firm in position to help others over data act change
A LEADING law firm has set out its plans to comply with data protection regulations, ahead of Brexit.
SAS Daniels LLP, which have an office in Macclesfield has shared its outline plan for the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulation.
According to SAS Daniels, they are on track to be fully compliant with the new data regulation by the 25th May 2018 deadline.
And the firm hopes the plans will mean they will be able to help other local businesses in their preparations.
GDPR is the new EU regulation to harmonise data protection legislation across the EU and bring it into line with the modern ways data is used.
The new guidelines will replace the outdated Data Protection Act 1998 in the UK and Brexit is likely to have little impact on its implementation into UK Law.
Russell Oseman, chief operating officer at SAS Daniels and leader of the GDPR project said: “GDPR will affect every business, from SMEs to FTSE 100 companies so all local businesses need to prepare to make significant changes as to how they manage individuals’ (data subjects’) personal data.
“The sheer volume of information available around GDPR makes it very daunting to plan for the changes. We’ve realised, however, since the inception of our project team last year, that it needn’t be overly complicated, and there is a logical structure to follow that can be implemented in any business.”
Businesses who are non-compliant or breach the new GDPR could face tougher penalties and fines.
The new regulation brings a number of changes. Among the most significant changes are increased rights for data subjects to request access to their personal data, higher standards of consent, as well as increased responsibilities for controllers and processors. There will also be shorter time limits for reporting and an increase in powers for supervisory bodies.
Mr Oseman add: “We operate in a regulated environment, so are used to compliance and risk management principles, as well as having an in-house legal knowledge of data protection, so this has given us an advantage.
“Through our own GDPR preparations and discussions with fellow businesses, what becomes quickly apparent is that many believe only changes to IT systems are required and this is a huge misconception.”