What is GDPR?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation by which the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission intend to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union (EU). It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU. The primary objectives of the GDPR are to give control back to citizens and residents over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU. When the GDPR takes effect, it will replace the Data Protection Directive of 1995. This new regulation becomes enforceable from 25 May 2018 and, unlike a directive, it does not require any enabling legislation to be passed by national governments and is therefore directly binding and applicable.
In a nutshell
The main intent of the GDPR is to give individuals more control over their personal data, impose stricter rules to companies handling this data and make sure companies embrace new technology to process the influx of data produced. From 25 May 2018, companies must obtain specific consent to use individuals’ data and provide details of how personal data will be handled including how long it will be held for. Individuals have the right to have their personal data kept safe, the right to complain if data is mishandled or misused, the right to object to their data being used and the right to ‘be forgotten’.
The GDPR places great emphasis on accountability and companies will have to demonstrate compliance. This will involve maintaining records of all data handling activities, and implementing and maintaining a proactive approach to data protection.
What The Company of Biologists is doing for GDPR
The Company of Biologists considers privacy and confidentiality to be of the utmost importance and have undertaken comprehensive risk assessments to ensure compliance with the new regulations, together with extensive steps to ensure individuals’ personal data is protected.
We believe that the GDPR is an important step forward for clarifying and enabling individual privacy rights and are committed to GDPR compliance across all our publishing platforms.
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