Within the United States, 9,000 Data Protection Officer’s (DPO’s) will soon be required to accommodate the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), according to the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).
The GDPR is “the Regulation govern[ing] the privacy practices of any company handling EU citizens’ data, whether or not that company is located in the EU. Because the EU’s 28 member states together represent the world’s largest economy and the top trading partner for 80 countries, many companies around the globe buy and sell goods to EU citizens and are thus subject to the GDPR,” states The Privacy Advisor.
According to a study report generated by the IAPP, the world has only a mere 18 months to make itself compliant, provided they can find the 75,000 DPOs on time.
Coming into effect in May, 2018, this mandate will shockingly require two-thirds of the needed DPOs, which are not even within the EU.
Omer Tene, VP of IAPP in the research and education department, released a statement on the matter. “Appointing a data protection officer is just the beginning … Organizations will need to ensure DPOs are well qualified and trained in the growing body on knowledge of the privacy profession, including law, technology, and data management best practices.”
This new rigorous system of privacy and security will oversee the mandating needs of public authorities, as well as a few large-scale companies, who will now need to employ a DPO by law.
While having a DPO is one of the several requirements that the GDPR has set, it also displays fierce guidelines not seen in previous laws that protected the European citizen’s digital data privacy, or any privacy laws set in the United States. The limitations of data use are also changing, with penalties for being non-compliant sitting steeper than what has previously been noted.
It has been projected that there will be an increase of American-based companies needing to come into line with GDPR regulations, most likely doubling the figure seen when the now defunct Safe Harbor helped govern matters.
The IAPP is forecasting up to 9,000 United States organizations having to provide themselves with a DPO, in order to necessitate and comply with the GDPR guidelines.
Because the United States is a large trading partner with Europe, the US will require the most DPOs. However, China will follow closely behind, with a requirement for 7,568 DPOs. Switzerland will need 3,682, Russia will require 3,068 and Turkey will have to find 2,045 DPOs.
While having a high demand of 9,000 DPOs is a vital part in the United States, the IAPP is suggesting that 9 out of 10 companies will simply reassign an existing employee to take on this role within the organization.
When a poll was taken, nearly half of the respondents failed to provide any information about raising the employee budget to hire a new DPO, or reassigning an existing member to act as the company’s DPO, with 30% stating they won’t invest in new resources to accommodate the new requirements for DPOs. On the brighter employment side, 22.7% have said they will increase their employee count; 20.6% have already increased their internal budget; and 16.3% will be adding external budgets to help meet with the new requirements.
Sources: IAPP, IAPP (Study Report), GDPR.
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