While the current EU legislation (the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive) governs entities within the EU, the territorial scope of the GDPR is far wider in that it will also apply to non-EU businesses who a) market their products to people in the EU or who b) monitor the behavior of people in the EU (which might include tracking users on a website). In other words, even if you’re based outside of the EU but you control or process the data of EU citizens, it is likely that the GDPR will apply to you.

GDPR has broad scope and reach. That said, it is not unlimited. So, if you do not have an establishment in the Union and you do not process personal data of EU individuals, GDPR will not apply to your activities. If you do not know whether you process EU personal data, then you should consider whether you are offering any goods and services (even free ones) to individuals in the EU or if you’re monitoring the behavior of individuals in the EU. If so, then you are subject to GDPR. Recital 23 of GDPR does indicate that GDPR is not intended to apply to entities that may inadvertently process EU personal data, but are not trying to provide their goods or services to people in the EU (for example, if your website is targeted at a North American market, but users from the EU nevertheless choose to access it).

Personal data means data that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person (aka “data subject”). An identifiable data subject is someone who can be identified, directly or indirectly, such as by reference to an identifier like a name, an ID number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.

Importantly, this is a very broad definition and can encompass data like IP addresses of a user’s personal device, their device ID, or their phone number. It does not matter that the identifier could change (e.g., that the user could change their phone number or device ID). What matters is that the information can be used to “pick that user out of the crowd” even if you don’t know who that user is.

It is also important to note that the definition of personal data is not tied to concerns about identity theft in the way that definitions of personally identifying information (PII) are under many US data breach laws. So, even if it seems like there would be little privacy harm if someone got ahold of your users’ IP addresses, that does not mean that those IP addresses are not personal data. It just means that this data may not require the same level of data protection as more sensitive personal data like your users’ credit card numbers. EU data protection law assumes that there is inherent value in personal data, and therefore damage is done to a data subject whenever personal data is processed unlawfully, regardless of whether there is any possibility of financial loss ensuing for the data subject.

It depends. Article 37 of GDPR says that entities are required to designate a data protection officer if:

1. The processing is carried out by a public authority or body (except courts acting in their judicial capacity);
2. The core activity of the entity consists of personal data processing that amounts to or requires regular or systematic monitoring of EU individuals on a large scale;
3. The core activity of the entity consists of large-scale processing of special categories of data (racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data used to identify a person, or data concerning health, a person’s sex life or sexual orientation) and personal data relating to criminal convictions or offenses.

The Working Party 29 (a group of data protection regulators in the EU) has provided additional guidance to help you determine if you fit within one of these categories.

By way of practical guidance, an organisation processing special categories of data as part of its business model (e.g. an insurance, health or pharamceutical company) or an organisation intensively profiling or tracking its customers (e.g. a bank or social media company) is very likely to need a DPO.

Compliance with standards such as HIPAA can be helpful for compliance with GDPR, particularly with regard to security of processing, but GDPR compliance is not interchangeable with HIPAA or other standards like ISO 27001 compliance. Therefore, you should not assume that if you’re HIPAA or ISO 27001 compliant that you are also GDPR compliant.

Depending on the nature of the violation, data protection authorities may issue fines or penalties for non-compliance up to € 20 million or 4% of global revenue. Data subjects may also bring claims against an organisation which misuses their personal data, either on an individual basis or as part of an impacted group of data subjects.

The GDPR is built on a foundation of key data protection principles. These principles form the basis of GDPR compliance, and should be applied to any activity which uses personal data:

1. Obtain and process the personal data lawfully, fairly and transparently.
2. Use it only for the purpose(s) for which it was collected
3. Keep it safe and secure
4. Keep it accurate and up-to-date
5. Ensure that it is adequate, relevant and not excessive
6. Retain it no longer than is necessary for the specified purpose or purposes

In addition, organisations must be able to actively demonstrate accountability with the principles set out above, for example through of appropriate policies, guidelines and operational processes.

No. There is no obligation under the GDPR for data to be stored in the EU and the rules regarding transfer of personal data outside the EU will not change. This means that, as long as the personal data is “adequately protected”, data may be transferred abroad. For example, the EU has prepared a list of countries which they deem to provide an adequate standard of protection (known as “white listed countries”), so it is permissible to transfer data to those countries. Where a country is not on that EU list (for example, the USA), the controller must rely on use of approved contractual provisions (e.g. the Model Clauses or Corporate Binding Rules) or one of the other alternative measures, provided for in Law, such as the Privacy Shield certification.

No—we have built all the DPA obligations right into our new Terms of Service. In particular, Section 21 details:

• the obligations of CallTrackingMetrics
• sub-processor notifications
• international transfers
• and the obligations of the Customer

Annex 1 to the Terms of Service provides additional detail about the scope of processing.