The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is one of the most widely applied privacy regulations within the United States, comparable to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).Â
With the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) setting stringent guidelines for how businesses handle personal information, it's crucial for companies to ensure compliance. We have compiled a CCPA compliance checklist to help your team maintain compliance with the latest version of the act, as outlined by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). This comprehensive checklist will help you navigate the CCPA requirements and safeguard your business against potential violations.
Read also: GDPR Compliance checklist
Ready? Let's dive in.
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a state law that grants California residents rights over their personal information. It allows consumers to know what data is collected, request deletion, opt-out of data sales, and ensures non-discrimination for exercising these rights. The CCPA enhances privacy and consumer protection.
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) gives consumers more control over the personal information that businesses collect about them and the CCPA regulations provide guidance on how to implement the law. This landmark law secures new privacy rights for California consumers, including: The right to know about the personal information a business collects about them and how it is used and shared; The right to delete personal information collected from them (with some exceptions); The right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of their personal information; and The right to non-discrimination for exercising their CCPA rights.
- State of California Department of Justice
The CCPA was formed to give California residents greater transparency and control over their personal data. The regulation was created in response to the increasing reports of data breaches tied to Big Tech organizations that operated poorly defined data processing practices.Â
Like GDPR, CCPA gives consumers greater control over their sensitive personal information. It offers privacy protection for any person residing in California and applies even when they are temporarily outside the state. Â
Through companies ensuring they are CCPA compliant, Californians can consent to the type of data collected from them and the purpose of processing. Also, with the act in motion, Californian data subjects can effectively decline the misuse or abuse of sensitive data, such as undisclosed marketing and sales to third parties.Â
Essentially, the CCPA establishes an accepted industry standard that prevents discrimination against data subjects who exercise their privacy rights.Â
Read also: GDPR vs. CCPA/CPRA compliance: what's the difference?
The CCPA applies to for-profit businesses operating in California as long as they fulfill any one of the following criteria:
Adhering to the CCPA also helps your company meet the guidelines of other regulations catered to your organization since the act offers extensive coverage of data protection best practices. These may include the California Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003 (CalOPPA). Â
Businesses that are subject to the CCPA have several responsibilities, including responding to consumer requests to exercise these rights and giving consumers certain notices explaining their privacy practices. The CCPA applies to many businesses, including data brokers.
- State of California Department of Justice
Read more: What CCPA means for advertisers
The CCPA text states that companies dealing with California data are responsible for supporting consumers/data subjects in upholding their rights. It also sets out that your company should provide consumers with notice that informs them of their rights as covered in the CCPA and expanded CPRA.Â
The CCPA requires businesses to disclose data collection practices, provide access to personal data upon request, delete personal data if asked, allow consumers to opt-out of data sales, and avoid discrimination against consumers who exercise these rights. Additionally, businesses must update privacy policies, verify consumer requests, and ensure data security.
In other words, the CCPA requires your company to take proactive measures on top of informing data subjects of their rights by facilitating a system that helps them exercise them. Effective approaches must provide site visitors with clear instructions on how they can submit requests to act upon their CCPA rights.
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Now that we've addressed the basics, let's uncover the need for a reliable checklist to ensure that your company meets the latest regulatory guidelines and avoids harmful outcomes for non-compliance.
To assist your team in staying compliant with the most recent iteration of the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), we have created this checklist for CCPA compliance.Â
By adhering to this CCPA privacy policy checklist, your company can ensure that its data practices align with the most up-to-date CCPA regulations, thereby strengthening data privacy programs. A crucial aspect of this compliance entails fulfilling the CCPA privacy notice requirements, which provide clear explanations of a user's rights under the act. It is important to note that businesses are mandated by the CCPA to perform privacy policy updates annually as part of their due diligence.
Start by identifying and documenting all personal information your business collects, stores, processes, and shares. Classify these data types and map out their flow within your organization. This foundational step is crucial for understanding the scope of your data handling and pinpointing areas that require attention.
Your privacy policy must be transparent and comprehensive. Your team can optimize privacy policy updates that meet the latest CCPA regulations by clarifying the following steps:
This ensures that consumers are fully informed about your data practices.
CCPA regulations revolve around a group of customer rights your company must provide. These rights are similar to the clauses within the GDPR but apply to California residents.
Implement processes to handle consumer requests efficiently. Some of these rights include:
Additionally, the CPRA amendment that is effective from the 1st of January 2023 includes the enforcement of additional user rights such as:
Read more: CCPA vs CPRA
Develop and implement robust procedures to verify the identity of consumers making requests. This step is vital to prevent fraudulent data access and ensure that requests are legitimate.
Train your employees, especially those handling personal data and consumer requests, on CCPA requirements and your internal procedures. Awareness and education are key to maintaining compliance.
Review and enhance your data security practices to protect personal information against breaches and unauthorized access. Implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to safeguard data.
Review and update contracts with service providers to ensure they comply with CCPA requirements. Make sure contracts include provisions that prohibit the use of personal information for purposes other than the specified services.
Maintain records of consumer requests and your responses for at least 24 months. Document your CCPA compliance efforts and processes to demonstrate your commitment to data privacy.
Provide a clear and accessible opt-out mechanism for consumers to prevent the sale of their personal information. This should be easy to find and use, ensuring consumers can exercise their rights without hassle.
Implement specific measures for handling data of minors:
These additional steps ensure compliance with regulations protecting the data of younger consumers.
Conduct regular audits of your CCPA compliance processes and data practices. Stay updated with any changes to CCPA regulations and amend your compliance measures accordingly. Regular reviews help identify and address any gaps in your compliance strategy.
Ensure clear and transparent communication with consumers regarding their rights and your data practices. Provide timely notifications in case of any data breaches involving personal information. Transparency builds trust and helps maintain compliance. You should ensure that you provide the following notices to your data subjects:
The CCPA requires businesses to give consumers certain information in a “notice at collection.” A notice at collection must list the categories of personal information businesses collect about consumers and the purposes for which they use the categories of information. (To find out how you can learn what specific information a business has collected about you, see the Right to Know section.) If the business sells consumers’ personal information, then the notice at collection must include a Do Not Sell or Share link. The notice must also contain a link to the business’s privacy policy, where consumers can get a fuller description of the business’s privacy practices and of their privacy rights.
- State of California Department of Justice
By adhering to the CCPA privacy policy checklist and fulfilling these requirements, your company can maintain compliance with the CCPA. It is crucial to distribute an update notice accompanying each policy change, ensuring that data subjects are well-informed about the latest version. Additionally, your website's front page should prominently display a noticeable link to your privacy policy terms, further enhancing transparency and accessibility.
Meeting your company’s obligations under the California Consumer Privacy Act can seem daunting, especially if you aren’t a regulatory or policy specialist. When you partner with Ketch, we help you ensure your company is compliant with the CCPA, as well as all other U.S. State Privacy Laws.Â
With the Ketch Data Permissioning Platform, you can:Â
Get in touch today to learn more about how Ketch can help you with CCPA requirements.