Brexit will soon be complete, the White House is due to have new occupants and the Covid vaccination is close. Leo will be back in his old office in the not too distant future as many of us too venture back into the towns and cities from where we used to conduct our businesses.
But what will occupy the news in 2021 and be the new subject at the watercooler? (remember those?)
It’s predicted it will be an old one, making a strong comeback! GDPR!
Consider those 4 letters. They never really went away, and so our focus will be shifted firmly back onto GDPR in early 2021 as complaints to the Data Protection Commission turn into prosecutions and they in turn become fines.
The sanction for companies in breach of GDPR is a maximum fine of €20 million or up to 4% of their turnover for the previous year, whichever is higher.
Breaches can include the loss of an unencrypted device, unauthorised access to personal data, files getting lost or stolen, and deliberate disclosures of sensitive information.
Twitter, Google & Facebook have all found themselves on the wrong side of the commission and closer to home Government agencies like TUSLA report as many as 200 breaches annually, with 81% being caused by human error.
A fine of €75,000 imposed on TUSLA this year will surely reduce that number but how would any business incur such a cost, and with legal fees to add to the bill too?
Did you know that In 2020 we have sent more emails than in any other year? There is a common misconception that the sending of emails to individuals at a work email address is a form of business-to-business communication where consent of the individual is not required but fines of €1000 were issued per unsolicited email by the district court in one case in 2019. So, consider,
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Do we have a record of having permission to contact the people we sent those communications to?
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How many unsolicited emails have you sent this year?
When we wrote our names and contact details in ledgers as we ventured back to restaurants and pubs did we consider how our data was to be used? Were we even told? Did we record the same data as people called to our places of business? How secure is that data now?
The number of complaints received by the Regulator is an indication of the public’s awareness of the now two-year-old rules. The commission is receiving an average of about 633 complaints a month. It receives in the region of 20,000 emails and calls a year.
At ARAG, our Commercial Legal Expenses Insurance policy includes cover to defend a prosecution under data protection legislation. And all our policies are supported by our Legal Advice Helpline which operates 24/7, so we are always available when you need us.
Please contact your ARAG Account Manager for further information on all Legal Expenses policies.
Disclaimer - all information in this article was correct at time of publishing.
