As a business owner based or doing business in Europe, you must have heard of GDPR.

The regulations have been around for more than 5 years.

But there are still many businesses that don’t know the requirements or importance of this law.

Many businesses, especially startups, either ignore or defer compliance with GDPR for later stages.

They have multiple other priorities such as developing a product, gaining customers, and fundraising.

And GDPR usually comes at the bottom of their list.

They are making 3 mistakes here:

(1) People are Concerned about Privacy

Today people are particularly concerned about privacy and data protection.

And ignoring GDPR makes your prospective customers distrust your company.

(2) Investors want safety

Investors look very closely at legal compliance in their due diligence.

And you are likely to lose investment without having a proper data protection strategy in place

(3) Fines are no joke

The fines are sky-high.

Higher of 20 million EUR or 4% of your annual turnover.

That's why I created this guide for businesses doing business in Europe.

Or targeting that market.

Here’s what you need to do for your company:

(1) Privacy Audit

The first step is understanding your business model.

Determine when, how, where, and for what purpose you collect personal data.

Whether it's names, emails, or more sensitive info, map it out.

Determining this helps you plan your further actions.

If you deal in any special category of data such as health data, there are additional legal obligations in place.

(2) Lawfulness and Transparency of Data Processing

Why are you collecting data?

Define it.

It could be consent, performance of a contract with your customer, etc.

Be transparent about it with your users or clients.

Limit data and data processing only to what is necessary for specified purposes.

And always inform individuals about these.

If you're holding on to their data, let them know why, and again, only keep what you absolutely need.

Think of it like getting a phone number from someone and telling them why you need to save it.

(3) Impact Assessment and Security Measures

Conduct a data protection impact assessment.

It's basically identifying risks associated with your data processing practices.

Once known, these risks can be addressed by implementing proper security measures and managing operations.

GDPR requires you to implement controls and protection mechanisms to secure personal data.

GDPR leaves it for the businesses themselves to take appropriate measures.

This could include steps like setting strong passwords to protect your systems.

Or implementing pseudonymization,

Or encryption of personal data.

But taking these steps is important.

(4) Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy is no longer a "nice-to-have" document.

It is a mandated document which basically serves two purposes:

a) Informing customers about your data processing activities;

b) Providing them the option to exercise their rights.

It should be concise and easy to understand.

Drafting one is easy once you have taken all the previous steps.

That's it!

GDPR compliance should not be viewed as a burden.

It's just a way to tell others you run a transparent business.

It generates trust overall in YOU as a business owner.

And a focused strategy for its implementation could save you much more than it will cost to pay for non-compliance.

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