GDPR

The request was successful.

Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,

Under the Freedom of Information Act I would like some details on GDPR. I would like to know how many years notice companies have had of GDPR coming? Also what date were companies notified of the changes to come?

Yours faithfully,

Michael Hiden

AccessICOinformation, Information Commissioner's Office

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Information Commissioner's Office

7 March 2018

 

Case Reference Number IRQ0726021

 

Dear Mr Hiden

Request for Information
 
Further to your information request to the Information Commissioner’s
Office (ICO) of 12 February 2018, we can now respond.
 
We have dealt with your request in accordance with your ‘right to know’
under section 1(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), which
entitles you to be provided with any information ‘held’ by a public
authority, unless an appropriate exemption applies.
 
Your request
 
In your email you asked “Under the Freedom of Information Act I would like
some details on GDPR. I would like to know how many years notice companies
have had of GDPR coming? Also what date were companies notified of the
changes to come?”.
 
Our response
 
We do hold information about the implementation of GDPR, and the
steps that have been taken to notify companies of the changes to come.
 
It may help to explain that whilst the ICO will soon become the UK
regulatory authority for the GDPR, we are not responsible for introducing
the new data protection legislation.  It is the European Parliament that
decided reforms to European wide data protection legislation were needed.
 
However, we can confirm that we have been publicising the introduction of
the GDPR since 14 April 2016, when we published a statement about MEP’s
adopting the reforms.  This can be accessed from the ICO’s website here:
 
[1]https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-an...
 
It is the European Parliament that decided to give organisations two years
(until 25 May 2018) to prepare for the implementation of GDPR, and the
link to the ICO website above also includes a further link to the European
Parliament’s own press release on GDPR.  

The ICO began our campaign to help organisations prepare for GDPR at our
Data Protection Practitioners' Conference in March 2016, when we launched
the 12 steps guide to getting ready for GDPR.  Since that time we have
continued to publicise information on our website about our work around
implementing the reforms, including providing advice and guidance to
organisations on the changes to come. 
 
Specifically we have:
 
 

* created a dedicated webpage for GDPR issues where all our resources
could be found
* developed an overview to the GDPR that has now become the Guide to the
GDPR as more and more guidance is ready, which has been accessed 2.5
million times
* revamped the 12 steps guide (downloaded 350,000 times)
* created a webpage targeted particularly at small organisations
including a range of resources such as an interactive toolkit (used by
around 9,000 business a month) and FAQs
* ICO staff have spoken at more than 100 events where GDPR and data
protection reform was a key theme
* ICO staff have written articles for a whole range of sector press
ranging from dentists to Parish Councils about how GDPR will affect
them
* we have a strong presence on Twitter (52,500 followers), LinkedIn
(24,000 followers) and Facebook (4,500 followers) where we post GDPR
updates
* Our monthly e-newsletter contains regular GDPR updates and is received
by 150,000 subscribers
* in the summer of 2017 we began a series of myth-busting blogs on
various aspects of the GDPR which have had wide coverage on social
media and in mainstream press
* set up a dedicated phone line for small businesses in October 2017
* in December 2017 we launched FAQs on our sector pages for charities,
schools and health organisations and have plans for more in the next
few weeks
* we will be embarking on a campaign to support micro-businesses (those
employing less than ten people) in March 2018

 
By way of advice and assistance, you may also find it helpful to look at
the following external links (non ICO), which all provide background
information and guidance about the implementation of the GDPR.
 
DLA Piper - this includes a timeline for GDPR dating from 2012:
 
[2]https://www.dlapiper.com/en/uk/focus/eu-...
 
 
EU Publications - this confirm the regulation was published in the
official journal 27 April 2016, following approval on 8 April 2016:
 
[3]https://publications.europa.eu/en/public...
 
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport – In April 2017 the DCMS
consulted about GDPR, published a statement of their intent regarding the
DP Bill, and a further statement regarding the implementation of GDPR in
the UK:
 
[4]https://www.gov.uk/government/consultati...
  
[5]https://www.gov.uk/government/news/gover...
 
[6]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
 
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A copy of our review procedure can be accessed from our website [8]here.
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
 

Antonia Swann
Lead Information Access Officer
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF
T. 01625 545894  F. 01625 524510  [9]ico.org.uk  [10]twitter.com/iconews
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References

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