The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is coming in on May 25th and this will have major implications for most joinery businesses on the way they manage their data.
In the BWF’s new Countdown to the GDPR guide, the federation has provided specific guidance on what the new rules will mean.
The guide features FAQs and a GDPR compliance checklist and will help woodworking businesses manage the data they keep on their customers and employees as well as understand the measures they will need to put in place to comply.
Matt Mahony, BWF’s policy and communications executive
BWF policy and communications cxecutive, Matt Mahony, comments: “A lot of joinery businesses keep personal and customer information and this is often shared with third parties. This puts them at high risk if they don’t know when to ask for data consent or don’t have any adequate data control procedures or policies in place, particularly in the event of a data breach.
“The new rules should not mean a bonfire of employee data or contact lists, but they will require companies to map out which parts of the GDPR will impact their business and put new measures in place if necessary.
“There is a lot of information out there already which is why the BWF is offering something more than a ‘one size fits all’ approach and will be providing additional support to ensure that businesses don’t have to break stride to become compliant.”
The Information Commissioners’ Office (ICO) can take action against organisations and individuals that break data protection rules. These include criminal prosecution, non-criminal enforcement and monetary penalty notices. Under the GDPR, the ICO will now be able to impose fines of up to €20m or 4% of group annual turnover (whichever is greater).
If your joinery business processes any personal information electronically and decides how that information is processed, then it may already need to be registered with the ICO. This is relatively simple – there is a very small fee required for SMEs - but if you haven’t done it already, we recommend you do so now.
Further information on the new rules is available on the BWF website.
Main image © Premier Architectural Joinery Ltd
