If you don’t target European customers stop panicking about GDPR says lawyer
Australian marketers may be overthinking the implications of the European Union’s new GDPR data protection rules, a lawyer has argued.
Speaking at the Mumbrella’s B2B Marketing Summit this week, DVM Law solicitor Jason Qian, told the audience most Australian businesses are unlikely to be liable under the EU’s rules. However, he warned that large clients may expect their local agencies to be GDPR compliance anyway.
Microsoft’s Mel Neilsen-Gerber and Jason Qian of DVM law at Mumbrella’s 2018 B2B marketing summit
What I see easily happening is that the GDPR isn’t just a European-Union-specific measure. Here, the GDPR could be seen as a “gold standard” for data-protection regulation around the world. This could be more so with the UK when they complete their Brexit cycle — they most likely would be implementing a tight “data protection” regime underscoring the key tenets of the GDPR. Or California and New York, two highly progressive states in the USA, could use the GDPR as the template for a data-privacy law.
Similarly, the GDPR may be seen in a similar light when it comes to striking business contracts especially with privacy-minded organisations whether they are chartered in Europe or not.
Thanks for the article, Paul!
The relationship between consent, legitimate interest, B2B and B2C, and European privacy laws on top of the GDPR is quite complicated. I’ll just add that you shouldn’t drop the ball on your potential obligations just because you use personal information in a B2B context and have the words “legitimate interest” in their privacy policy.
Naturally – seek legal advice.
Websites do cross borders whether intended or not, ignorance is an excuse….. I too would suggest that the EU GDPR is a benchmark for good practice and one would be remiss in ignoring any impacts and opportunities of visibility elsewhere (market development).
Many businesses may well already be coming under the auspices of the GDPR, due to attracting EU web traffic (if you don’t know, install Google Analytics etc. on website and social media).
If you have information online in a European language (although intended for local audience), a product or service which maybe of interest etc. then it’s probably useful to follow GDPR.
It’s a pity the Australian and other governments don’t implement many of the good ideas the EU adopts for citizens’ rights, not corporate (including media).