Are Your Clients Ready for GDPR on May 25?

Robert J. Scott & Stephen F. Pinson, Headnotes, 03/23/18

What is GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) becomes effective on May 25, 2018 and should give all in-house counsel and law firms cause for worry. GDPR is the most wide sweeping privacy regulation to hit the global market since the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive. GDPR is a regulation that requires businesses to protect the personal data and privacy of EU residents (EU data subjects). The new legislation introduces tough new fines for non-compliance and gives individuals assorted rights regarding how their data may be used (“processed”) by companies doing business involving EU data subjects. The regulation also affects US businesses through its extraterritorial jurisdiction and scope.