GDPR readiness in the spotlight

Author: | Published: 20 Dec 2017

By Olly Jackson, EMEA reporter

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) may not be as punitive as some suggest but businesses need to spend big to comply, particularly if they were one step behind the previous regulations.

GDPR will come into effect in May 2018 and aims to harmonise data protection rules across Europe. Some changes change have attracted a lot of attention: the huge potential increase in fines, which could be as high as €20 million ($23.6 million) or four percent of the company’s annual global turnover; the right to be forgotten and the new legal requirement to report data breaches within 72 hours.

These changes appear to be taking businesses by surprise. In a YouGov poll in May, 71% of UK companies surveyed said they were unaware of the fines enforced under the GDPR, and 40% admitted they would have to cut staff or go out of business if...