Resources

Client Alerts, News Articles, Blog Posts, & Multimedia

Everything you need to know about BMD and the industry.

CLIENT ALERT: The European Union's New Data Privacy Law Goes Into Effect

Client Alert
June 5, 2018

On May 25, 2018, the European Union’s (“the EU”) new data privacy law went into effect.[1]   The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) concerns the processing of personal data that can be searched according to specified criteria such as geographical scope. 

Who it affects

The GDPR applies to all organizations that maintain offices or store data in the EU.  It also applies to many of the core organizations on the web.  For instance, it applies to social media, apartment rental, e-commerce, and internet search sites.  If your website conducts business in the EU, then the GDPR will apply.  Additional factors that would require a company to be GDPR compliant include sales or marketing to EU citizens, accepting any EU country’s currency, an EU country domain suffix, shipping services to the EU, or language translation or website in an EU language.

General global marketing does not require GDPR compliance.  If you use Google Adwords, and an EU citizen and resident visits your webpage as a result of this ad, the GDPR would not apply because there was no targeted interface with EU citizens.  The fact that an unsolicited EU citizen can and does visit your website does not require your organization to be GDPR compliant.  If you take no steps to interface with EU citizens, GDPR compliance is not required. 

Steps you should take now if your organization must be GDPR compliant

  • Provide customers and website visitors with detailed information on how data will be collected and used.
  • Redesign consent forms so that users must affirmatively agree to all uses of their data, and they can select those uses to which they agree and those to which they decline.
  • Create forms that distinguish between consent versus agreement to general terms and conditions.
  • Store customer preferences.
  • Audit data regularly, including where data is stored, why data is collected, how data is obtained, and how much duplication of data exists across multiple sites.
  • Audit your service providers’ data, and review their data procedures.
  • Understand whether your organization is a data processor or data controller. A processor processes personal data on behalf of a controller, whereas a controller determines the purpose and means of how data is processed.
  • Ask for explicit consent from consumers anytime you want to use data for ad targeting purposes.
  • Use “group data” that isn’t precise enough to target individual consumers.
  • Implement procedures and technology that ensures data can be permanently erased.
  • Appoint a Data Protection Officer who is knowledgeable about the GDPR to oversee compliance with respect to data collection, storage, and data processing.
  • Train all employees that have access to personal data on the GDPR requirements, including the requirement that internal data on employees must comply with the GDPR.
  • Prepare for data breaches by creating internal processes to detect, report, and investigate breaches in compliance with the GDPR.

What organizations should NOT do if you are required to be GDPR complaint

  • Rely on the E.U.-U.S. Privacy Shield to avoid compliance with the GDPR. Companies are still required to comply with the GDPR in order to receive Privacy Shield coverage, and the scope of the GDPR is much wider than the scope of the Privacy Shield.
  • Create exposure to the hefty penalties imposed by the GDPR for non-compliance. Companies are liable for 4% of their annual turnover or 20 million Euros, whichever is greater.
  • Risk reputational damage by receiving attention for non-compliance. The first companies to be penalized are more likely to receive significant media coverage for their noncompliance. 

There may be legal challenges to GDPR regarding applicability to non-EU companies 

This is a new, unprecedented law. The previous European data privacy law, the Data Protection Directive, was implemented in 1998, and was much narrower in scope.  The GDPR’s applicability and requirements are vast, and non-EU companies are likely to bring legal challenges in terms of its applicability to them. 

Who to contact with questions

Should you have any questions concerning the General Data Protection Regulation, please contact Matthew A. Heinle, Esq. (maheinle@bmdllc.com), who is a partner at Brennan, Manna & Diamond.

 

[1] General Data Protection Regulation, https://gdpr-info.eu/.

International Law
Client Alert

Yard Sign Do’s and Don’ts: How to Avoid Legal Challenges to Municipal Sign Codes this Election Season

September 8, 2020As the nation heads into the tail end of the 2020 general election, municipalities will inevitably face challenges as they seek to regulate the seasonal proliferation of yard signs on residential property. While the matter may seem trifling, a seemingly benign yet content-based sign ordinance can result in significant legal exposure for municipalities that have not heeded recent Supreme Court decisions on content neutrality.Client Alert

Time to Update Your HIPAA Compliance Plan for Telehealth Policies and Procedures

September 8, 2020The delivery of healthcare in this country may be forever changed following the COVID-19 pandemic. Providing services through telehealth technologies initially allowed providers to connect with patients in a safe and socially distant manner and helped keep vital hospital beds free for COVID-19 care. Now, while still a safe, socially distant option, telehealth allows patients to access healthcare services in an efficient manner, decreases the likelihood of cancellations, and expands access to services that do not require an in-person encounter (i.e., surgery, procedure, or test). Telehealth is now widely reimbursed by both federal and commercial payors and more provider types are able to provide telehealth services within their licensed scope of practice.Client Alert

The SEC Amends Accredited Investor and Qualified Institutional Buyer Definitions

September 2, 2020The SEC Amends Accredited Investor and Qualified Institutional Buyer DefinitionsClient Alert

Landlord Alert: CDC Issues Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions

September 2, 2020On September 1 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) issued a nationwide temporary halt on all residential evictions through December 31, 2020. With the July 24, 2020 expiration of the prior moratorium established under the CARES Act, the CDC based the new moratorium on the need to protect public health and the likely increase in the spread of COVID-19 if mass evictions take place.Client Alert

BMD Obtains Supreme Court Victory on Behalf of Sterilite of Ohio, LLC

August 28, 2020Columbus, Ohio – On August 26, 2020, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued its opinion in Lunsford v. Sterilite of Ohio, LLC, Slip Op. No. 2020-Ohio-4193. The Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision reversed an Ohio Court of Appeals ruling that had reinstated a putative class action against Sterilite brought by a group of current and former employees claiming that Sterilite’s use of “direct observation” urinalysis screening violated their common law right to privacy.
Older posts
Newer posts