GDPR compliance checklist

Uninformed companies may miss out on crucial steps that compromise compliance. And non-compliance with GDPR standards can result in hefty fines and penalties for companies that fall within its jurisdiction. 

On the plus side: companies that fulfill GDPR requirements create a habit of complying with data security and privacy demands, leading to increased trust and credibility with consumers. Due to the thoroughness of General Data Protection Regulation, your organization can leverage its guidelines to streamline and optimize key business activities.  

GDPR supports data authorities through two response options in the detection of non-compliance, depending on the severity of the event, which are:

• Likely infringement: Suspected cases of non-compliance, which result in an issued warning.
  

• Infringement: Confirmed cases of non-compliance based on underlying data. In such cases, companies receive a reprimand, a temporary or permanent data processing ban, and a fine of up to €20 million or 4% of the business’s total annual worldwide turnover. Data authorities may also impose an additional monetary fine on top of the listed penalties, in some cases replacing the reprimand. 

Therefore, it is important to follow a reliable, structured guideline to check against your GDPR requirements at all times to avoid the heavy repercussions of non-compliance. 

This GDPR compliance checklist covers the main requirements for adhering to the regulation. Your team can quickly refer to it for assessing your company’s current compliance status and make the necessary changes in fixing suspected privacy gaps before they cause any legal complications. 

GDPR principles

The EU GDPR process requires the controller or processor – the company with access to the sensitive data – to be accountable at all times when managing a subject’s personal information. 

GDPR summary

According to the GDPR summary, the regulation serves as a mandatory law for organizational compliance in processing sensitive information in an integrity-friendly manner. Sensitive or personal data could refer to any information directly or indirectly associated with a living person. 

Health-related data, personal information of religious beliefs, and criminal records are examples of such information that can be used to identify a person. The term “processing” used in the context of GDPR principles, includes:

• Data collection
  
  
• Data structuring
  
  
• Data organization
  
  
• Data usage
  
  
• Data storage
  
  
• Data sharing
  
  
• Data disclosure
  
  

Erasing and destruction of data

GDPR rights

The GDPR compliance requirements explicitly cater to providing individuals with enhanced protection for their personal data rights. Your company should check against the eight user rights outlined by the GDPR, which include:

1. The Right to Information: Data subjects have the right to ask about the type of data requested and the purpose of data processing.
   
2. The Right of Access: Your data subjects have the right to request access to their processed information at any time. Doing so provides a level of transparency between controllers/processors and data subjects since they can openly check for data discrepancies.
   
3. The Right to Rectification: Data subjects should have the right to make adjustments to their processed data if they suspect an inaccuracy, and should have the access to do so without delay.
   
4. The Right to Erasure: Under the EU GDPR, data subjects can request the immediate deletion of processed data under several conditions, such as the unlawful use of the information.
   
5. The Right to Restriction of Processing: Data subjects have the right to put a temporary stop to your data processing under conditions such as unlawful processing and when contesting against inaccurate information.
   
6. The Right to Data Portability: Your data subjects have the right to receive their information in a common data format when requested under certain conditions.
   
7. The Right to Object: Data subjects have the right to directly decline data processing activity under most circumstances unless it is critical for public interest or for specific research. ‍
8. The Right to Avoid Automated Decision-Making: Finally, data subjects should also have the right to be excluded from automated decision-making processes, including profiling, with few exceptions.
   

GDPR compliance in US

GDPR compliance is required for US businesses that fulfill at least one of the following criteria:

• Establishment: Your company falls under GDPR compliance if your business has a physical branch, outlet, or any other form of a stable establishment situated within the EU.
  

• Targeting: Any organization that targets EU residents (regardless of citizenship) by requesting information or monitoring their online behavior requires GDPR compliance. GDPR compliance does not apply when targeting EU citizens living in the US. 

Does GDPR apply to US data subjects?

It does not. The GDPR is a regulation for protection of EU residents. Your US-based company must enforce GDPR compliance only if you process the data of EU residents. GDPR penalties for US companies apply when your organization meets either criterion listed above. 

The GDPR oversees compliance by assigning a Supervising Authority (SA) or Data Protection Authority (DPA) to manage each member state's privacy complaints. Your reporting DPA is the one assigned to the country where your company’s main EU establishment has been based. 

Safeguard your US business with privacy by design 

When in doubt, a privacy by design GDPR checklist ensures that your company stays compliant across complex inter-border regulations. The privacy-by-design approach helps your team achieve this through a proactive approach to data protection, maintaining full visibility and transparency while prioritizing end-to-end security. 

GDPR compliance software

GDPR compliance software helps your company use technology to ensure compliance with GDPR data processing requirements. Ketch is an example of GDPR compliance software. We help businesses comply with GDPR requirements like: 

• Right to Information: to provide your customers with information about what data you have and how you’re using it, you need a clear understanding of where all sensitive and personal data lives in your data ecosystem. Ketch data mapping and discovery gives you clear visibility across systems and apps.
• Right of Access and Right of Erasure: with Ketch data subject rights fulfillment, your customers can kick of an automated request to access or delete their personal data. Ketch provides businesses with the tools to create this automated workflow, adding in manual checkpoints as desired by business stakeholders. 
• Right to Rectification and Right to Object: give your customers complete control and transparency over their data choices with Ketch consent and preference management. 

With capable GDPR compliance software, your business can achieve GDPR compliance certification. You can even leverage Ketch to perform GDPR assessments, creating a live and growing portrait of risk across your organization. We simplify privacy operations and enable your company to manage complete data control and intelligence as you grow your EU customer base. 

Download our complete GDPR compliance guide to learn more about the regulation’s impact on your organization and how you can scale your company’s growth while meeting the most demanding GDPR requirements. 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is one of the most stringent and comprehensive digital privacy standards in practice. (It contains 99 individual articles). GDPR applies to companies operating within the European Union (EU) and their partners situated worldwide with shared access to the sensitive data of EU residents. 

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