Have you noticed an avalanche of emails telling you about Privacy Policy updates? It is because on May 25th, 2018 a new law European law comes into effect. The “General Data Protection Regulations” (or, GDPR) affects any business that is either based out of the European Union, or processes the data of customers in the European Union.
For most of our clients, this will have no affect. However, some businesses that operate digitally may find that if they accept international orders, or keep data from subscribers around the world, they may have new liability in the GDPR.
Thankfully, following GDPR rules are simple if you already have good email or data protection. For email newsletters or sign up lists, make sure that you don’t sign people up to your email list that have not specifically opted in. It is helpful to be able to prove when the user themselves gave their data to you, and most newsletter vendors have a ‘double opt-in’ feature which could be helpful.
In short, if you are already following US CANSPAM Act rules, you are likely in the clear. If you want to make 100% sure that you are compliant, you should contact a compliance professional. Further, here are some tools to get you started.