Data protection
Preparing for the General
Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR)
12 steps to take now
Awareness
You should make sure that decision makers and key
people in your organisation are aware that the law is
changing to the GDPR. They need to appreciate the
impact this is likely to have.
1
Information you hold
You should document what personal data you hold,
where it came from and who you share it with. You
may need to organise an information audit.
2
Individuals’ rights
You should check your procedures to ensure they
cover all the rights individuals have, including how
you would delete personal data or provide data
electronically and in a commonly used format.
4
Communicating privacy information
You should review your current privacy notices and
put a plan in place for making any necessary
changes in time for GDPR implementation.
3
Legal basis for processing personal data
You should look at the various types of data
processing you carry out, identify your legal basis for
carrying it out and document it.
6
Data breaches
You should make sure you have the right procedures
in place to detect, report and investigate a personal
data breach.
9
Data Protection by Design and Data
Protection Impact Assessments
You should familiarise yourself now with the guidance
the ICO has produced on Privacy Impact Assessments
and work out how and when to implement them in
your organisation.
10
Consent
You should review how you are seeking, obtaining and
recording consent and whether you need to make any
changes.
7
Subject access requests
You should update your procedures and plan how you
will handle requests within the new timescales and
provide any additional information.
5
Children
You should start thinking now about putting systems
in place to verify individuals’ ages and to gather
parental or guardian consent for the data processing
activity.
8
Data Protection Officers
You should designate a Data Protection Officer, if
required, or someone to take responsibility for data
protection compliance and assess where this role will
sit within your organisation’s structure and
governance arrangements.
11
International
If your organisation operates internationally, you
should determine which data protection supervisory
authority you come under.
12
12 steps to take now
Preparing for the General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR)
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Introduction
This checklist highlights 12 steps you can take now to
prepare for the General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR) which will apply from 25 May 2018.
Many of the GDPR’s main concepts and principles are much the same as
those in the current Data Protection Act (DPA), so if you are complying
properly with the current law then most of your approach to compliance
will remain valid under the GDPR and can be the starting point to build
from. However, there are new elements and significant enhancements, so
you will have to do some things for the first time and some things
differently.
It is important to use this checklist and other Information Commissioner’s
Office (ICO) resources to work out the main differences between the
current law and the GDPR. Over the next few months the ICO will set out
its plans to produce new guidance and other tools to assist preparation.
The Article 29 Working Party will also be producing guidance at European
level. The ICO will also be working closely with trade associations and
bodies representing the various sectors – you should also work closely
with these bodies to share knowledge about implementation in your
sector.
It is essential to start planning your approach to GDPR compliance as
early as you can and to gain ‘buy in’ from key people in your organisation.
You may need, for example, to put new procedures in place to deal with
the GDPR’s new transparency and individuals’ rights provisions. In a large
or complex business this could have significant budgetary, IT, personnel,
governance and communications implications.
The GDPR places greater emphasis on the documentation that data
controllers must keep to demonstrate their accountability. Compliance
with all the areas listed in this document will require organisations to
review their approach to governance and how they manage data
protection as a corporate issue. One aspect of this might be to review the
contracts and other arrangements you have in place when sharing data
with other organisations.
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Note that some parts of the GDPR will have more of an impact on some
organisations than on others (for example the provisions relating to
profiling or children’s data), so it would be useful to map out which parts
of the GDPR will have the greatest impact on your business model and
give those areas due prominence in your planning process.


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1 Awareness
You should make sure that decision makers and key people in your
organisation are aware that the law is changing to the GDPR. They need
to appreciate the impact this is likely to have and identify areas that could
cause compliance problems under the GDPR. It would be useful to start
by looking at your organisation’s risk register, if you have one.
Implementing the GDPR could have significant resource implications,
especially for larger and more complex organisations. You should
particularly use the first part of the GDPR’s two-year lead-in period to
raise awareness of the changes that are coming. You may find compliance
difficult if you leave your preparations until the last minute.

2
Information you hold
You should document what personal data you hold, where it came from
and who you share it with. You may need to organise an information
audit, across the organisation, or within particular business areas.
The GDPR updates rights for a networked world. For example, if you have
inaccurate personal data and have shared this with another organisation,
you will have to tell the other organisation about the inaccuracy so it can
correct its own records. You won’t be able to do this unless you know
what personal data you hold, where it came from and who you share it
with. You should document this. Doing this will also help you to comply
with the GDPR’s accountability principle, which requires organisations to
be able to show how they comply with the data protection principles, for
example by having effective policies and procedures in place.

3 Communicating privacy information
You should review your current privacy notices and put a plan in place for
making any necessary changes in time for GDPR implementation.
When you collect personal data you currently have to give people certain
information, such as your identity and how you intend to use their
information. This is usually done through a privacy notice. Under the
GDPR there are some additional things you will have to tell people. For
example, you will need to explain your legal basis for processing the data,
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your data retention periods and that individuals have a right to complain
to the ICO if they think there is a problem with the way you are handling
their data. Note that the GDPR requires the information to be provided in
concise, easy to understand and clear language.
The ICO’s Privacy notices code of practice reflects the new requirements
of the GDPR.

4
Individuals’ rights
You should check your procedures to ensure they cover all the rights
individuals have, including how you would delete personal data or provide
data electronically and in a commonly used format.
The main rights for individuals under the GDPR will be:
• subject access,
• to have inaccuracies corrected,
• to have information erased,
• to prevent direct marketing,
��� to prevent automated decision-making and profiling, and
• data portability.
On the whole, the rights individuals will enjoy under the GDPR are the
same as those under the DPA but with some significant enhancements. If
you are geared up to give individuals their rights now, then the transition
to the GDPR should be relatively easy. This is a good time to check your
procedures and to work out how you would react if someone asks to have
their personal data deleted, for example. Would your systems help you to
locate and delete the data? Who will make the decisions about deletion?
The right to data portability is new. This is an enhanced form of subject
access where you have to provide the data electronically and in a
commonly used format. Many organisations will already provide the data
in this way, but if you use paper print-outs or an unusual electronic
format, now is a good time to revise your procedures and make any
necessary changes.


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5 Subject access requests
You should update your procedures and plan how you will handle requests
within the new timescales and provide any additional information.
The rules for dealing with subject access requests will change under the
GDPR. In most cases you will not be able to charge for complying with a
request and normally you will have just a month to comply, rather than
the current 40 days. There will be different grounds for refusing to comply
with subject access request – manifestly unfounded or excessive requests
can be charged for or refused. If you want to refuse a request, you will
need to have policies and procedures in place to demonstrate why the
request meets these criteria.
You will also need to provide some additional information to people
making requests, such as your data retention periods and the right to
have inaccurate data corrected. If your organisation handles a large
number of access requests, the impact of the changes could be
considerable so the logistical implications of having to deal with requests
more quickly and provide additional information will need thinking
through carefully. It could ultimately save your organisation a great deal
of administrative cost if you can develop systems that allow people to
access their information easily online. Organisations should consider
conducting a cost/benefit analysis of providing online access.

6 Legal basis for processing personal data
You should look at the various types of data processing you carry out,
identify your legal basis for carrying it out and document it.
Many organisations will not have thought about their legal basis for
processing personal data. Under the current law this does not have many
practical implications. However, this will be different under the GDPR
because some individuals’ rights will be modified depending on your legal
basis for processing their personal data. The most obvious example is that
people will have a stronger right to have their data deleted where you use
consent as your legal basis for processing.
You will also have to explain your legal basis for processing personal data
in your privacy notice and when you answer a subject access request. The
legal bases in the GDPR are broadly the same as those in the DPA so it
should be possible to look at the various types of data processing you
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carry out and to identify your legal basis for doing so. Again, you should
document this in order to help you comply with the GDPR’s
‘accountability’ requirements.

7 Consent
You should review how you are seeking, obtaining and recording consent
and whether you need to make any changes.
Like the DPA, the GDPR has references to both ‘consent’ and ‘explicit
consent’. The difference between the two is not clear given that both
forms of consent have to be freely given, specific, informed and
unambiguous. Consent also has to be a positive indication of agreement
to personal data being processed – it cannot be inferred from silence, pre-
ticked boxes or inactivity. If you rely on individuals’ consent to process
their data, make sure it will meet the standards required by the GDPR. If
not, alter your consent mechanisms or find an alternative to consent.
Note that consent has to be verifiable and that individuals generally have
stronger rights where you rely on consent to process their data.

The GDPR is clear that controllers must be able to demonstrate that
consent was given. You should therefore review the systems you have for
recording consent to ensure you have an effective audit trail.

8 Children
You should start thinking now about putting systems in place to verify
individuals’ ages and to gather parental or guardian consent for the data
processing activity.
For the first time, the GDPR will bring in special protection for children’s
personal data, particularly in the context of commercial internet services
such as social networking. In short, if your organisation collects
information about children – in the UK this will probably be defined as
anyone under 13 – then you will need a parent or guardian’s consent in
order to process their personal data lawfully. This could have significant
implications if your organisation aims services at children and collects
their personal data. Remember that consent has to be verifiable and that
when collecting children’s data your privacy notice must be written in
language that children will understand.
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9 Data breaches
You should make sure you have the right procedures in place to detect,
report and investigate a personal data breach.
Some organisations are already required to notify the ICO (and possibly
some other bodies) when they suffer a personal data breach. However,
the GDPR will bring in a breach notification duty across the board. This
will be new to many organisations. Not all breaches will have to be
notified to the ICO – only ones where the individual is likely to suffer
some form of damage, such as through identity theft or a confidentiality
breach.
You should start now to make sure you have the right procedures in place
to detect, report and investigate a personal data breach. This could
involve assessing the types of data you hold and documenting which ones
would fall within the notification requirement if there was a breach. In
some cases you will have to notify the individuals whose data has been
subject to the breach directly, for example where the breach might leave
them open to financial loss. Larger organisations will need to develop
policies and procedures for managing data breaches – whether at a
central or local level. Note that a failure to report a breach when required
to do so could result in a fine, as well as a fine for the breach itself.

10 Data Protection by Design and Data Protection Impact
Assessments
You should familiarise yourself now with the guidance the ICO has
produced on Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) and work out how to
implement them in your organisation. This guidance shows how PIAs can
link to other organisational processes such as risk management and
project management. You should start to assess the situations where it
will be necessary to conduct a DPIA. Who will do it? Who else needs to be
involved? Will the process be run centrally or locally?
It has always been good practice to adopt a privacy by design approach
and to carry out a privacy impact assessment as part of this. A privacy by
design and data minimisation approach has always been an implicit
requirement of the data protection principles. However, the GDPR will
make this an express legal requirement.
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Note that you do not always have to carry out a PIA – a PIA is required in
high-risk situations, for example where a new technology is being
deployed or where a profiling operation is likely to significantly affect
individuals. Note that where a PIA (or DPIA as the GDPR terms it)
indicates high risk data processing, you will be required to consult the ICO
to seek its opinion as to whether the processing operation complies with
the GDPR.

11 Data Protection Officers
You should designate a Data Protection Officer, if required, or someone to
take responsibility for data protection compliance and assess where this
role will sit within your organisation’s structure and governance
arrangements.
The GDPR will require some organisations to designate a Data Protection
Officer (DPO), for example public authorities or ones whose activities
involve the regular and systematic monitoring of data subjects on a large
scale. The important thing is to make sure that someone in your
organisation, or an external data protection advisor, takes proper
responsibility for your data protection compliance and has the knowledge,
support and authority to do so effectively. Therefore you should consider
now whether you will be required to designate a DPO and, if so, to assess
whether your current approach to data protection compliance will meet
the GDPR’s requirements.

12 International
If your organisation operates internationally, you should determine which
data protection supervisory authority you come under.
The GDPR contains quite complex arrangements for working out which
data protection supervisory authority takes the lead when investigating a
complaint with an international aspect, for example where a data
processing operation affects people in a number of Member States. Put
simply, the lead authority is determined according to where your
organisation has its main administration or where decisions about data
processing are made. In a traditional headquarters (branches model), this
is easy to determine. It is more difficult for complex, multi-site companies
where decisions about different processing activities are taken in different
places. In case of uncertainty over which supervisory authority is the lead
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for your organisation, it would be helpful for you to map out where your
organisation makes its most significant decisions about data processing.
This will help to determine your ‘main establishment’ and therefore your
lead supervisory authority.