ICO

INFORMATION COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE (UK)

Preparing for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

12 steps to take now

1. Awareness

You should make sure that decision makers and key people in your organisation are aware that the law is changing to the GDPR. They need to appreciate the impact this is likely to have.

2.Information you hold

You should document what personal data you hold, where it came from and who you may need to organise an information audit.

3.Communicating privacy information

You should review your current privacy notices and put a plan in place for making any necessary changes in time for GDPR implementation.

4.Individuals’ rights

You should check your procedures to ensure they cover all the rights individuals have, including how you would delete personal data or provide data electronically and in a commonly used format

5.Subject access requests

You should update your procedures and plan how you will handle requests within the new timescales and provide any additional information.

6.Lawful basis for processing personal data

You should identify the lawful basis for your processing activity in the GDPR, document it and update your privacy notice to explain it.

7.Consent

You should review how you seek, record and manage consent and whether you need to make any changes. Refresh existing consents now if they don’t meet the GDPR standard.

8.Children

You should start thinking now about whether you need to put systems in place to verify individuals’ ages and to obtain parental or guardian consent for any data processing activity.

9.Data breaches

You should make sure you have the right procedures in place to detect, report and investigate a personal data breach.

10.Data Protection by Design and Data Protection Impact Assessments

You should familiarise yourself now with the ICO’s code of practice on Privacy Impact Assessments as well as the latest guidance from the Article 29 Working Party, and work out how and when to implement them in your organisation.

11.Data Protection Officers

You should designate someone to take responsibility for data protection compliance and assess where this role will sit within your organisation’s structure and governance arrangements. You should consider whether you are required to formally designate a Data Protection Officer.

12.International

If your organisation operates in more than one EU member state (ie you carry out cross-border processing), you should determine your lead data protection supervisory authority. Article 29 Working Party guidelines will help you do this.

Introduction

This checklist highlights 12 steps you can take now to

prepare for the General Data Protection Regulation

(GDPR) which will apply from 25 May 2018.

Many of the GDPR’s main concepts and principles are much the same as those in the current Data Protection Act (DPA), so if you are complying properly with the current law then most of your approach to compliance will remain valid under the GDPR and can be the starting point to build from. However, there are new elements and significant enhancements, so you will have to do some things for the first time and some things

differently.

It is important to use this checklist and other Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) resources to work out the main differences between the current law and the GDPR. The ICO is producing new guidance and other tools to assist you, as well as contributing to guidance that the Article 29 Working Party is producing at the European level. These are all available via the ICO’s Overview of the General Data Protection Regulation. The ICO is also working closely with trade associations and bodies representing the various sectors – you should also work closely with these bodies to share knowledge about implementation in your sector.

It is essential to plan your approach to GDPR compliance now and to gain ‘buy in’ from key people in your organisation. You may need, for example, to put new procedures in and individuals’ rights provisions. In a large or complex business this could have significant budgetary, IT, personnel, governance and communications implications.

The GDPR places greater emphasis on the documentation that data controllers must keep to demonstrate their accountability. Compliance with all the areas listed in this document will require organisations to review their approach to governance and how they manage data protection as a corporate issue. One aspect of this might be to review the

contracts and other arrangements you have in place when sharing data with other organisations.

Some parts of the GDPR will have more of an impact on some organisations than on others (for example, the provisions relating to profiling or children’s data), so it would be useful to map out which parts of the GDPR will have the greatest impact on your business model and give those areas due prominence in your planning process.

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Step 6: Lawful basis for processing personal data

You should identify the lawful basis for your processing activity in the GDPR, document it and update your privacy notice to explain it. Many organisations will not have thought about their lawful basis for processing personal data. Under the current law this does not have many practical implications. However, this will be different under the GDPR because some individuals’ rights will be modified depending on your lawful basis for processing their personal data. The most obvious example is that people will have a stronger right to have their data deleted where you use consent as your lawful basis for processing.

You will also have to explain your lawful basis for processing personal data in your privacy notice and when you answer a subject access request. The lawful bases in the GDPR are broadly the same as the conditions for processing in the DPA. It should be possible to review the types of processing activities you carry out and to identify your lawful

basis for doing so. You should document your lawful bases in order to help you comply with the GDPR’s ‘accountability’ requirements.

Step 7: Consent

You should review how you seek, record and manage consent and whether you need to make any changes. Refresh existing consents now if they don’t meet the GDPR standard.

You should read the detailed guidance the ICO has published on consent under the GDPR, and use our consent checklist to review your practices. Consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous. There must be a positive opt-in – consent cannot be inferred from silence, preticked boxes or inactivity. It must also be separate from other terms and conditions, and you will need to have simple ways for people to withdraw

consent. Public authorities and employers will need to take particular care. Consent has to be verifiable and individuals generally have more rights where you rely on consent to process their data.

You are not required to automatically ‘repaper’ or refresh all existing DPA consents in preparation for the GDPR. But if you rely on individuals’ consent to process their data, make sure it will meet the GDPR standard on being specific, granular, clear, prominent, opt-in, properly documented and easily withdrawn. If not, alter your consent mechanisms and seek fresh GDPR-compliant consent, or find an alternative to consent.

Step 8: Children

You should start thinking now about whether you need to put systems in place to verify individuals’ ages and to obtain parental or guardian consent for any data processing activity.

For the first time, the GDPR will bring in special protection for children’s personal data, particularly in the context of commercial internet services such as social networking. If your organisation offers online services (‘information society services’) to children and relies on consent to collect information about them, then you may need a parent or guardian’s consent in order to process their personal data lawfully. The GDPR sets the age when a child can give their own consent to this processing at 16 (although this may be lowered to a minimum of 13 in the UK). If a child is younger then you will need to get consent from a person holding ‘parental responsibility’. This could have significant implications if your organisation offers online services to children and collects their personal data. Remember that consent has to be verifiable and that when collecting children’s data your privacy notice must be written in language that children will understand.