Glossary of Terms

GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a compliance regulation which the European Union announced in April of 2016. The GDPR sets out to regulate, strengthen and standardize the protection of data for all individuals within the European Union.

The GDPR will become enforceable by law on May 25, 2018. This is a compliance regulation which all businesses much concern themselves with, whether they complete international transactions or not.

At its foundation, the regulation sets out to enforce that all information shall be:

1. Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
2. Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes.
3. Adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary.
4. Accurate and, where necessary, kept up-to-date.
5. Retained only for as long as necessary.
6. Processed in an appropriate manner to maintain security.

This is a significant business process nightmare for companies that still deal in paper-based processes. Digital document management solutions may make complying with the GDPR much easier, as compliance, accuracy, retention, and security can all be monitored, standardized, and automated.