General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the EU's comprehensive data privacy and protection law that governs how organizations collect, process, store, and protect personal data. Effective May 25, 2018, GDPR applies to any organization worldwide that processes personal data of EU residents, establishing strict requirements and significant penalties for non-compliance.

Who Needs GDPR Compliance?

GDPR applies to:

• Organizations established in the EU processing personal data, regardless of where processing occurs

• Organizations outside the EU offering goods or services to EU residents or monitoring their behavior

• Data controllers: Entities determining purposes and means of processing personal data

• Data processors: Entities processing personal data on behalf of controllers (vendors, service providers)

Personal data includes any information relating to an identified or identifiable person (names, email addresses, IP addresses, location data, online identifiers, health information, etc.).

Seven Core Principles

GDPR establishes seven foundational data protection principles:

1. Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency: Process data legally, fairly, and transparently to the data subject

2. Purpose limitation: Collect data for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes only

3. Data minimization: Collect only data adequate, relevant, and limited to what's necessary

4. Accuracy: Ensure personal data is accurate and kept up to date

5. Storage limitation: Keep data in identifiable form only as long as necessary

6. Integrity and confidentiality: Secure data against unauthorized processing, loss, or damage

7. Accountability: Demonstrate compliance with GDPR principles

Key Requirements

Organizations must implement several mandatory capabilities:

• Legal basis for processing: Establish lawful grounds (consent, contract, legal obligation, legitimate interest, vital interest, public task)

• Privacy notices: Provide clear, accessible information about data processing activities

• Data subject rights fulfillment: Enable rights to access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, and objection

• Consent management: Obtain and document freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous consent when required

• Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs): Conduct assessments for high-risk processing activities

• Data breach notification: Report breaches to supervisory authorities within 72 hours and notify affected individuals when required

• Records of processing activities: Maintain comprehensive documentation of all data processing

• Data protection by design and default: Implement privacy safeguards from the outset

• Vendor management: Execute data processing agreements with processors and conduct due diligence

Data Subject Rights

GDPR grants individuals extensive rights over their personal data:

• Right to be informed: Clear information about data processing

• Right of access: Obtain confirmation and copies of their data

• Right to rectification: Correct inaccurate or incomplete data

• Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten"): Request deletion under certain circumstances

• Right to restrict processing: Limit how data is used

• Right to data portability: Receive data in a structured, commonly used format

• Right to object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing

• Rights related to automated decision-making: Contest solely automated decisions with legal or significant effects

Organizations must respond to data subject requests within one month.

Special Categories and International Transfers

Special category data (sensitive data like health, race, religion, biometrics) requires additional safeguards and explicit consent or other specific legal basis.

International data transfers outside the EU/EEA require:

• Adequacy decision from the European Commission, OR

• Appropriate safeguards (Standard Contractual Clauses, Binding Corporate Rules), OR

• Specific derogations for exceptional situations

Data Protection Officers (DPOs)

Organizations must appoint a DPO if they:

• Are a public authority

• Conduct large-scale systematic monitoring

• Process large-scale special category data

The DPO advises on compliance, monitors data protection activities, and serves as contact point for supervisory authorities.

Penalties

GDPR imposes tiered administrative fines:

• Lower tier (up to €10 million or 2% of global annual turnover): Violations of processor obligations, DPO requirements, or certification body obligations

• Higher tier (up to €20 million or 4% of global annual turnover): Violations of core principles, data subject rights, international transfer rules, or non-compliance with supervisory authority orders

Fines are determined based on severity, duration, intent, mitigation measures, and cooperation with authorities.

How ISMS Copilot Helps

ISMS Copilot provides comprehensive support for GDPR compliance:

• Framework-specific guidance: Ask questions about specific GDPR articles, principles, or data subject rights

• Policy generation: Create audit-ready privacy policies, data retention policies, and data subject rights procedures

• Gap analysis: Upload existing privacy documentation to identify gaps against GDPR requirements

• DPIA templates: Generate data protection impact assessment frameworks for high-risk processing

• Data processing records: Create Article 30 records of processing activities (RoPA)

• Vendor agreements: Develop GDPR-compliant data processing agreements

• Breach response planning: Create incident response plans with GDPR notification timelines

• Workspace organization: Manage GDPR projects separately from other compliance initiatives

The AI has direct knowledge of GDPR's structure and requirements, so you can reference specific articles or rights in your prompts.

Getting Started

To begin GDPR compliance work in ISMS Copilot:

1. Create a dedicated workspace for GDPR compliance

2. Ask the AI to help you identify your legal basis for processing activities

3. Generate foundational policies (privacy policy, data retention, data subject rights)

4. Create Article 30 records of processing activities for your organization

5. Upload existing privacy documentation for gap analysis

6. Develop a DPIA framework for high-risk processing activities

7. Create vendor data processing agreements aligned with Articles 28-29

Related Resources

• Official GDPR regulation text: EUR-Lex

• European Data Protection Board (EDPB) guidelines and recommendations

• National data protection authority (DPA) guidance in your jurisdiction