Legal Experts Urge Businesses To Comply With New Data Protection Laws or Face Fines

Legal experts at Irwin Mitchell are urging firms to comply to the incoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) after a study showed that nearly a quarter of UK businesses have abandoned their compliance plans because of Brexit.

A survey of British businesses by Crown Records Management concluded that almost half (44%) of UK businesses do not believe GDPR will apply to UK companies once the UK formally exits the EU.

The Government have already confirmed that GDPR will be preserved by the Great Repeal Bill.

Last week the Information Commissioners Office revealed that nearly half of all companies are struggling to comply with existing data protection laws, let alone the GDPR reforms which businesses must comply with by 25th May 2018.

Some of the key changes to be introduced by the GDPR include:

• Compulsory notification of data breaches;
• Obligations to be more transparent in how you use personal data;
• Increased rights given to individuals to access the data you hold on them;
• The Right to be Forgotten.

Non-compliance can lead to potential fines of up to €20 million or 4% of annual worldwide turnover, whichever is bigger.

Joanne Bone is a Partner at law firm Irwin Mitchell specialising in helping businesses identify gaps in their compliance and coming up with tailor made solutions to help them avoid fines but also maximise the potential that GDPR offers.

In a recent survey the firm found that clients ranked data protection and GDPR compliance as top of their list of concerns ahead of Brexit, despite the worryingly small amount of firms preparing to comply.