The new European privacy legislation (AVG)

The new privacy law General Data Protection Regulation is expected to cause quite a stir starting May 25. The law affects anyone who deals with personal customer data. Whether you work at a law firm, a dental practice or an online marketing company, it is important that the AVG law is properly enforced.

What exactly does the AVG law entail?
The new privacy law ensures that consumers are better protected and have more control over their personal data. Currently, it is often unclear what data companies store and use. The AVG law should change this in all European countries. Of course, this sounds like a good improvement, but what does this mean concretely for your company? The new law requires companies to be completely transparent regarding the use of personal data. To be allowed to process personal data in the future, it is necessary to ask permission first. Only the moment a visitor accepts the conditions can he or she view the website and possibly make a purchase.

Below, we list the most important changes:

1. Consent necessary through an active act

Even now, many websites already use cookies. However, it is often unclear exactly what happens to the data and what data the organization has access to. With the entry into force of the new law, it is important that companies clearly state what personal data is used and what exactly happens with it. Consumers are then asked to give consent by clicking a check mark for each piece of text. This active action will become mandatory as of May 25, 2018.

2. New consumer rights

Another change is that consumers will have more insight into the personal data known to companies, allowing customers to view, control and change this data at any time. Until now, consumers did not have these rights. If you use e-mail marketing, for example, it is important that customers can view all data or delete it themselves via a link.

3. Exceptions

As always, there are exceptions to the rule. For example, companies do not have to ask permission to process personal data when visitors make a purchase on the website. In fact, in the case of a sales agreement, there is a legitimate reason for this. It is advisable to look up exactly what rules apply to the industry you are in.

Fines
As a business owner, you must be able to prove that all visitors to your website have consented, what consumers have consented to, which companies this consent was given to, and when users consented. The moment you cannot prove that a visitor has given consent, you run the risk of a hefty fine. It is very important to find out exactly what the AVG law means for your organization. The fines can be as high as 4% of a company's total annual turnover. Therefore, make sure your website meets all the new requirements.

Implications for online marketing
The new AVG law also has implications for online marketing companies. For example, in an e-mail marketing campaign, it is important not only to offer the recipient the opportunity to unsubscribe but also to provide him or her with a link to delete all personal data. It is important to be completely transparent. Moreover, new challenges arise with regard to data collection and data analysis. Online marketers try to map the customer journey by tracking individual users and monitoring consumer behavior. However, this becomes a lot trickier with the new AVG law because it also requires consent. It will soon be mandatory to have https when you want to send a newsletter or request for a quote. Finally, it will be a challenge to reach consumers again through a remarketing campaign. This can cause many technical problems because it is difficult to exclude one person from a targeting list.

All in all, it is important to consider what the changes mean for your business. Prevent a fine by checking that your website meets all the requirements of the AVG law. At Economy, we are happy to answer your questions.