The EU is way ahead of most economic zones in protecting citizens’ privacy rights, and companies that want to do business there have to get in line. Now, new changes to the data protection law including stronger enforcement powers and higher fines will come into force for every organization in every country having operations in the European Union (EU). The changes go into effect by May 25, 2018, under the EU General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.
To help corporations get in line with the regs and avoid penalties, Aon, a global provider of risk management and human resource consulting and outsourcing, has announced the launch of its EU Data Protect, a newly created comprehensive risk management solution that helps organizations prepare for the GDPR and protects against some of the potential financial impacts of the regulation.
EU Data Protect includes a tool to assist companies to identify, prioritize and remediate gaps in their compliance plans; modeling of the financial impact from data breaches under GDPR; an EU GDPR Insurance Endorsement; and access to specialist post-event advisory services.
“The GDPR represents a significant regulatory challenge facing firms that do business in the EU,” said Renette Pretorius, Cyber Practice Leader, Global Broking Centre in London, Aon. “Its mission is to give citizens back the control of their personal data and equip regulators with sufficient enforcement powers to address the evolving digital landscape and tougher privacy challenges – a change heavily felt across many companies. All businesses operating in the EU, no matter where they are located, should prepare for the impact of this regulation.”
The regulation introduces stricter requirements on organizations processing personal data, a mandatory data breach notification regime and tougher enforcement powers for regulators including fines of up to 4 percent of annual worldwide turnover and strengthened audit and investigatory powers.
“Organizations that do not identify and address compliance gaps in their marketing practices, data handling and data breach response protocols do so at their own peril,” said Andrea Garcia Beltran, EMEA Cyber Sales Leader, Aon. “Business interruption losses are appropriately 'front of mind' for many EMEA organisations, but potential liability of up to 4 percent of an organization’s turnover must be added in to the risk management thought process.”