The coming introduction of EU General Data Protection Regulation has seen many surveys that attempt to ascertain the legislation’s possible affect on companies. The majority of these surveys focus and report on the negative affects on companies.
The most commonly discussed aspect has been the strict penalties the new law applies to entities that are not adhering with the legislation. However a few of the surveys have looked deeper than the compliance requirements and provided interesting insights into the bigger picture in relation to its advantages to business. GDPR is not just about fines and penalties. There are many stipulations with clear benefits to businesses which make it most welcome. The GDPR fines are there as a continual reminder of the EU’s resolution to secure privacy and private data.
The legislation is formulated to secure personal data and improve the exchange of information for businesses within the EU and their affiliates. The legislation comes with new requirements for sourcing and processing private data. Groups with large-scale data processing will have to appoint a dedicated Data Protection Officers who will monitor compliance. The new EU regulation mainly encourages companies to secure their data as one of their main assets.
One of the advantages of GDPR is increased control of personal data. The legislation introduces extra rights that empower users to hold data controllers accountable. Some individuals have begun to take advantage of such provisions as shown by the surveys. 77% of Irish-based customers are ready to take advantage of the new rights included in the new EU law when it takes effect.
Along with this, research completed by SAS shows that 66% of adults acknowledge and welcome the right to access to information while almost a similar percentage welcome the right to be forgotten. Another 63% stated that the right to correct information in case of inaccuracies or incompleteness serves their interests while 62% believes that the right to limit processing of personal data is most relevant for them.
In the United Kingdom, 48% of the adults would use the rights given to them by the GDPR according to the SAS survey. Most of the respondents who answered that they would be exercising their rights belong to the age group 45-54. 21% of these people will exercise their rights in the first month when the legislation comes into force. 18-24 years category has a lower probability of making a request for personal information. Their likelihood of doing so is 13%.
In the UK the right of access is most popular, just ahead of the right to erasure and finally right to rectification with 64%, 62% and 59%.