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Back in September of 2015, our blog took a look at the various privacy laws in countries around the world. Along with the US and UK, the crew at Absolute Destruction reviewed European privacy policies as it compared to Canadian legislation. For any archive jumpers (or for those with great memories) we have an announcement to make. This past April, the European Union has passed a landmark privacy bill in the General Data Protection Regulation, and it will effectively replace Directive 95 as of this time next year — which means, as of May 2018, everything within that article regarding Europe’s current laws will be outdated.

To remind our regular readers, Directive 95 is the colloquial term for the Data Protection Directive or Directive 95/46/EC. Since 1995, the directive regulated the way personal information of European citizens could be collected, shared, and discarded. It was a head of its time, as it protected European’s personal data online when the Internet was in its infancy. Times have changed drastically, as has digital storage capabilities, which is why the EU has drafted a new and improved directive.

GDPR or Regulation (EU) 2016/679 will strengthen what was established in 1995, and it will roll out new enforcement measures for those who fail to comply. Should a company fail to protect personal information according to GDPR terms, they could be charged as much as 4% of their revenue as punishment. Continue reading here to get an in-depth review of the proposed changes.

Though the GDPR protects European citizens, it’s a bill that holds significance for business owners here in the GTA. Its regulations apply to any company that collects or stores information from EU citizens. Like Canada’s PIPEDA, you must follow GPDR if you’re a multi-national organization that deals with European customers or you will face the consequence outlined above.

The regulation may be a European law, but you can ensure your business practices abide by it through local means. As your resident shredding service in the GTA, we can help. We’re NAID-certified, so our fully bonded document destruction crew can guarantee our commercial shredding services follow the letter of the law — wherever it hails. In addition to adhering to the latest disposal techniques set out by the , we strive to meet the appropriate measures set out by the federal and provincial government’s privacy laws.

We like to be prepared, so we’re already gearing up for upcoming regulation, so we can ensure our multi-national clients are compliant with the GDPR once it comes into effect in May 2018. Until then, it will be business as usual as we provide secure, dependable shredding services that abide by necessary disposal regulations.

To make sure your small business or multi-national organization is compliant with every law, give us a call and schedule an appointment. With a variety of options that accommodate a wide arrange of digital and paper document outputs, we can help any company in the GTA confirm compliancy with laws local and abroad.