A privacy policy is an essential legal agreement that every business should have, especially a small one. It helps to ensure that owners avoid hefty fines and other kinds of liabilities regarding personal data violation issues. It also shows customers that your business is firmly committed to the protection of their personal information.
GDPR And EU Residents
As a small business owner, you have to make sure that your policy is user-friendly and covers all your data handling processes. You can adhere to such legal requirements by adding a privacy policy on your small business website as soon as possible.
When it comes to the GDPR, any small business owner or individual running an e-commerce store must comply with the EU’s data privacy regulations.
The GDPR also offers its EU citizens control over:
- who has access to their personal information
- what happens to their personal information
- how their data is shared and stored
The GDPR sets strict compliance laws on business owners, even those with companies that have fewer than 250 employees.
The whole basis of GDPR is to ensure that private individuals have more control over their privacy. It is a notion that revolves around the concept of consent, whereby business owners now need unequivocal authorization to handle, share, store, or process a person’s information. Â
If you are running a small business or an e-commerce site, then it is highly likely that GDPR will apply to you. As a result, you must understand your compliance obligations.
Understanding What Is Considered As Personal Data
One of the primary roles of the GDPR is to provide a clear and precise definition of personal data. This was done in Article 4.
According to the statute, personal information is any data that can help identify a person, their family, or household. This means that if you collect information that others may use to identify an individual, such as their home address, name, email, or phone number, it will be considered protected data under GDPR.
Whether you decide to send an email newsletter or capture a customer’s details through a prize drawing, you will still have to take the necessary steps to safeguard that information and ensure it remains confidential.
In addition, for you to be on the compliant side of the law, anytime you believe that you have collected personal data through your business in any way, treat it as such. Do not assume anything.
Law Requirements
When running a business that requires customers to give personally identifiable information whenever they purchase your product or service, you will have to provide a Privacy Policy on your website or somehow make it available at your storefront or office.
In case you need more clarification, you can look at various GDPR cookie consent examples.
Personally identifiable information serves as the universal description of any data used to contact, identify, or locate a person. It includes but is not limited to the following:
- date of birth
- telephone number
- full name
- email address
- credit card numbers
- national identification number
- screen names or handles
- physical addresses
- IP addresses (if tracked)
Conclusion
Enterprises in the EU also need to know whether GDPR applies to US customers. This is because the need for a Privacy Policy is worldwide.
Although the US doesn’t have federal privacy protection laws, various states have taken steps to rectify this situation. For instance, California passed its privacy law called the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Because it is highly populated, it would be safe to assume that you must adhere to the statutes of the CCPA if you transact business within residents of the state. In this way, the CCPA applies to a significant number of American companies across the country, and EU companies as well.
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