The General Data Protection Regulation is European Union legislation passed in April 2016 and coming into effect this Spring. It will become the primary law regulating companies holding the personal data of EU citizens, replacing the Data Protection Directive 95/46/ec and will remain active UK legislation after Brexit, with no indications by any parties that they wish to make changes to it. In a world of ransomware, e-commerce, cryptocurrencies, blockchain and a rapidly digitizing financial system; companies are collecting and holding more and more data to compete in a system where the distinction between local and international grows weaker every day. Compliance with foreign regulations is essential to avoid stagnation and, under GDPR, companies are responsible for ensuring the compliance of companies they do business with. Non-compliant companies are losing opportunities, gaining liability and could be faced with having to comply anyways or lose business partners.
The cost of compliance was estimated to average $1 million for Fortune 500 companies and a PwC survey on already compliant companies reported costs of up to $10 million. Fortunately, I have a much cheaper option for you. GDPR IQ (link at the end) is an automated system for generating GDPR documents, policies and procedures. Based on SoloSuit, an excellent legal tool for low-income individuals in the states, Parsons Behle Lab has simplified the whole process of GDPR compliance and given it a pay-to-download business model.
I still recommend having a lawyer provide a second opinion before implementing anything, however...
note: no legal issues have been reported at the time of writing, and this article will be updated to reflect any developments.