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What does GDPR mean for charity risk management?

GDPR should only mean a need to ‘develop’ your current risk management practices around data protection, presuming your organization is fully compliant with the DPA.

However, many organizations are taking this opportunity to fully assess their data protection and information security arrangements, even if they are compliant with the DPA.

How should charities prepare for GDPR?

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has released a Guide to GDPRGDPR FAQs for charities and 12 steps to prepare for GDPR. The steps that charities, social enterprises, voluntary and community groups and faith-based organizations should consider in preparation for GDPR include:

  • Awareness
    Ensure decision makers, such as directors, trustees, managers, and department heads are aware of GDPR and appreciate the impact it will have.
  • Data Mapping / Data or Information Audit
    Document what personal data you hold, where it came from, who you share it with, what you do with it and under which legal justification.
  • Communication
    GDPR requires more stringent and clear communication with data subjects. Review privacy notices and plan necessary changes in time for 25th
  • Individuals’ Rights
    GDPR provides data subjects with more rights. Review these and ensure you understand them; put in place processes for allowing subjects to exercise these rights.
  • Consent
    GDPR requires more stringent recording of consent. Where you process data with consent as the legal justification, review your process for recording it.
  • Children
    GDPR requires more stringent systems to be in place regarding data belonging to children. Review if you need to verify subjects’ ages or gain parental consent.
  • Data Breaches
    GDPR requires more of organizations if data breaches occur. Make sure you have processes in place to manage detection, reporting, and investigation of breaches.
  • New Processes
    Familiarise yourself with the ICO’s code of practice on Privacy Impact Assessments and any other new ‘data protection by design’ processes.
  • Data Protection Officers
    Someone in your organization should be responsible for data protection and GDPR. You may need to formally designate a Data Protection Officer (DPO).

What does GDPR mean for charity insurance?

The cover your organization has in place for claims surrounding data protection (such as for data breaches) is dependent on your insurance policy. You may find that you have some cover under Public Liability and/or Professional Indemnity but you should consider specialist cyber and data protection insurance.

The implementation of GDPR should not change any cover you previously had that related to DPA, but this depends on your policy wording.

Summary

All not-for-profit organizations need to have a comprehensive awareness of data protection legislation and its impact. You should consider what preparations and protections are necessary.

Source: CaSE