The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a piece of legislation that is designed to strengthen and unify data protection laws for all individuals within the European Union. The regulation will become effective and enforceable on May 25, 2018.

Baremetrics is fully committed to achieving and upholding ongoing compliance with GDPR prior to the effective date.

What we’re doing about the GDPR

Baremetrics began researching and pursuing compliance in 2017. The GDPR is a complex piece of legislation and we’ve been working with privacy experts and our attorneys to be sure we’re compliant with the GDPR. The privacy and security of our customers (and their customers) are of utmost importance to us.

Here’s a high-level overview of our GDPR Compliance Roadmap:

• Appoint a Data Protection Officer – COMPLETED
• Thoroughly research the areas of our product and business impacted by GDPR – COMPLETED
• Rewrite our Data Protection Agreement – COMPLETED
• Develop a strategy and guidelines for how to address the areas of our product impacted by GDPR – COMPLETED
• Perform the necessary changes/improvements to our product based on the requirements – COMPLETED
• Implement the required changes to our internal processes and procedures required to achieve and maintain compliance with GDPR – COMPLETED
• Thoroughly test all of changes to verify & validate compliance with GDPR – COMPLETED
• Communicate our compliance – COMPLETED

Changes to Baremetrics to become GDPR compliant

There are dozens upon dozens of changes and steps we’re taking across every part of our company to ensure we are GDPR compliant. This includes anonymizing more data, reducing the types of data shared across vendors to only the parts that are absolutely necessary and providing more controls over what data is/isn’t processed.

We will also provide more tools for you to get your data out of Baremetrics.

What is the GDPR?

The General Data Protection Act (GDPR) is considered to be the most significant piece of European data protection legislation to be introduced in the European Union (EU) in 20 years and will replace the the 1995 Data Protection Directive.

The GDPR regulates the processing of personal data about individuals in the European Union including its collection, storage, transfer or use. Importantly, under the GDPR, the concept of “personal data” is very broad and covers any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual (also called a “data subject”).

It gives data subjects more rights and control over their data by regulating how companies should handle and store the personal data they collect. The GDPR also raises the stakes for compliance by increasing enforcement and imposing greater fines should the provisions of the GDPR be breached.

The GDPR enhances EU individuals’ privacy rights and places significantly enhanced obligations on organizations handling data.

In summary, here are some of the key changes to come into effect with the upcoming GDPR:

• Expanded rights for individuals: The GDPR provides expanded rights for individuals in the European Union by granting them, among other things, the right to be forgotten and the right to request a copy of any personal data stored in their regard.
• Compliance obligations: The GDPR requires organizations to implement appropriate policies and security protocols, conduct privacy impact assessments, keep detailed records on data activities and enter into written agreements with vendors.
• Data breach notification and security: The GDPR requires organizations to report certain data breaches to data protection authorities, and under certain circumstances, to the affected data subjects. The GDPR also places additional security requirements on organizations.
• New requirements for profiling and monitoring: The GDPR places additional obligations on organizations engaged in profiling or monitoring behavior of EU individuals.
• Increased enforcement: Under the GDPR, authorities can fine organizations up to the greater of €20 million or 4% of a company’s annual global revenue, based on the seriousness of the breach and damages incurred. Also, the GDPR provides a central point of enforcement for organizations with operations in multiple EU member states by requiring companies to work with a lead supervisory authority for cross-border data protection issues.

If you are a company outside the EU, this still affects you. The provisions of the GDPR apply to any organization that processes personal data of individuals in the European Union, including tracking their online activities, regardless of whether the organization has a physical presence in the EU.

If you have any questions, you may send them to hello@baremetrics.com.