How can Indian organisations prepare for the GDPR regime?

Terms of use

Terms of Use

The use of this site and the content contained therein is governed by the Terms of Use. When you use this site you acknowledge that you have read the Terms of Use and that you accept and will be bound by the terms hereof and such terms as may be modified from time to time.

All text, graphics, audio, design and other works on the site are the copyrighted works of nasscom unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.
Content on the site is for personal use only and may be downloaded provided the material is kept intact and there is no violation of the copyrights, trademarks, and other proprietary rights. Any alteration of the material or use of the material contained in the site for any other purpose is a violation of the copyright of nasscom and / or its affiliates or associates or of its third-party information providers. This material cannot be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted or distributed in any way for non-personal use without obtaining the prior permission from nasscom.
The nasscom Members login is for the reference of only registered nasscom Member Companies.
nasscom reserves the right to modify the terms of use of any service without any liability. nasscom reserves the right to take all measures necessary to prevent access to any service or termination of service if the terms of use are not complied with or are contravened or there is any violation of copyright, trademark or other proprietary right.
From time to time nasscom may supplement these terms of use with additional terms pertaining to specific content (additional terms). Such additional terms are hereby incorporated by reference into these Terms of Use.

Disclaimer

The Company information provided on the nasscom web site is as per data collected by companies. nasscom is not liable on the authenticity of such data.
nasscom has exercised due diligence in checking the correctness and authenticity of the information contained in the site, but nasscom or any of its affiliates or associates or employees shall not be in any way responsible for any loss or damage that may arise to any person from any inadvertent error in the information contained in this site. The information from or through this site is provided "as is" and all warranties express or implied of any kind, regarding any matter pertaining to any service or channel, including without limitation the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement are disclaimed. nasscom and its affiliates and associates shall not be liable, at any time, for any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to, alteration of, or use of information contained on the site. No representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever are made as to the accuracy, adequacy, reliability, completeness, suitability or applicability of the information to a particular situation.
nasscom or its affiliates or associates or its employees do not provide any judgments or warranty in respect of the authenticity or correctness of the content of other services or sites to which links are provided. A link to another service or site is not an endorsement of any products or services on such site or the site.
The content provided is for information purposes alone and does not substitute for specific advice whether investment, legal, taxation or otherwise. nasscom disclaims all liability for damages caused by use of content on the site.
All responsibility and liability for any damages caused by downloading of any data is disclaimed.
nasscom reserves the right to modify, suspend / cancel, or discontinue any or all sections, or service at any time without notice.

For any grievances under the Information Technology Act 2000, please get in touch with Grievance Officer, Mr. Anirban Mandal at data-query@nasscom.in.

New

See all

No notification found.

How can Indian organisations prepare for the GDPR regime?

dionpwc

@dionpwc

April 20, 2018

Public Policy

662

By: Sivarama Krishnan, Leader, Cyber Security, PwC India

On 27 April 2016, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted. And on 25 May 2018, it will come into full effect, thereby marking a milestone in data protection laws across the EU. The nucleus of the GDPR is to strengthen and unify data protection for individuals within the EU as well as address the export of personal data outside the European Union (EU), which means it protects the misuse of personal identifiable information (PII) of any kind of EU citizens.

The development will not only change the business landscape in the EU but also influence global markets and multinationals. Organisations had two years to understand, comprehend and implement the regulation in spirit and, as a consequence, demonstrate compliance. But with the May go-live date coming closer, it is important for organisations to assess their readiness for the new regime in order to avoid heavy penalties or fines.

The Indian industry landscape and impact of the GDPR

Europe is a substantial marketplace for the ITeS, BPO and pharmaceutical industry in India. The size of the IT industry in the top two EU member states (i.e. Germany and France) is estimated to be around 155–220 billion USD.[1] Thus, for the Indian IT industry to keep continuing to do business in Europe, it needs to comply with the GDPR.

The GDPR imposes a penalty structure of 20 million EUR or 4% of global turnover (on the higher side) in cases of non-compliances.

The regulation requires a programmatic approach to data protection and a defensible programme for compliance will be required to prove that you are acting appropriately. As part of these efforts, answers to the following questions need to be sought:

What is our data footprint in the EU (e.g. data about employees, consumers and clients)?
Are we prepared to provide evidence of GDPR compliance to EU or US privacy regulators who may request it?
Do we have visibility of and control over what personal data we collect? How do we use it? With whom do we share it?
Do we have a privacy-by-design programme, with privacy impact assessments (PIAs), documentation and escalation paths?
Do we have a tested breach-response plan that meets GDPR’s 72-hour notification requirement?
Have we defined a roadmap for GDPR compliance?
Have we identified a Data Protection Officer (DPO) as required by the GDPR?
Have we adopted a cross-border data transfer strategy?

Organisations need to look at the following aspects as part of their compliance efforts:

Develop a vision and strategy for compliance with the GDPR.
Assess gaps between your current compliance programme and the requirements of the GDPR, and analyse risks.
Create an accountability framework for data protection compliance.
Develop the operational structures needed to facilitate compliance.
Document processing activities and data flows.
Review lawful processing bases and third-party contracts.
Create processes for privacy by design and privacy impact and risk assessments.
Identify and prioritise key remediation activity to reduce your risk profile.

Areas which need focus under the GDPR are:

Data processing
Notice and consent
Data subject rights
Lawful basis of processing
Accountability
Cross-border data transfer
Third-party and vendor management
Transparency of information and communication
Data security, storage, breach, breach notification
Training and awareness

The challenges

Weak data protection law in India: India’s outsourcing industry, which is estimated to be worth over 150 billion USD, contributes nearly 9.3% of the GDP.[2] The EU has been one of the biggest markets for the Indian outsourcing sector and India’s relatively weak data protection laws make us less competitive than other outsourcing markets in this space.
Cross-border restrictions: Largely inflexible, the GDPR reduces the extent to which businesses can assess risks and make decisions when it comes to transferring data outside the EU. Indian companies would need to implement sufficient safeguards, as required under the GDPR, in order to transfer personal data outside the EU, thereby further increasing compliance costs.
Greater risk of penalties and litigation: Article 3 (Territorial scope) of the GDPR makes it clear that the regulation will be applicable regardless of whether or not the processing takes place in the EU. This means no business for Indian companies that do not comply with the GDPR or increased compliance costs for those who do and the risk of huge penalties on failing to do so.

The opportunities

Business opportunity rather than compliance burden: Indian IT companies serving the EU market, their second largest after the US, would be required to comply with the GDPR. However, rather than seeing this as an additional burden in terms of compliance, Indian companies should see it as a massive business opportunity knocking at their doors.
Opportunity to stand out: Over the years, India has become a technology hub equipped with deep expertise and a talented resource pool. The GDPR could be an opportunity for Indian companies to stand out as leaders in providing privacy compliant services and solutions.
Developments in India’s privacy landscape: The ‘adequacy requirements’ under the GDPR allow the European Commission to consider whether the legal framework prevalent in the country to which the personal data is sought to be transferred affords adequate protection to data subjects in respect of privacy and protection of their data. In the wake of recent developments and the Supreme Court verdict, a data protection framework has been proposed by the Srikrishna Committee. It will be interesting to see how the forthcoming legislation shapes up and whether it will satisfy the criteria laid down under the GDPR.

How should Indian companies prepare for the GDPR?

Indian companies need to carefully look at the requirements for GDPR compliance. They need to:

Review policies, procedures and existing privacy programmes;
Conduct data discovery exercises and maintain documentation in order to demonstrate visibility of the personal data processed;
Impart data privacy training to employees or subcontractors;
Implement processes to perform data protection impact assessments (DPIAs), manage data subject requests, privacy by Design, etc.;
Review/update contracts signed with third-party vendors.
In addition to the above, organisations should focus on changing the technologies they use and should consider:
Pseudonymisation and encryption required while processing personal data;
Reviewing and updating configurations of data loss prevention (DLP), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and other technical solutions;
Equipping the security ecosystems with effective identity and access management (IdAM) solutions;
Reviewing data retention schedules, cross-border data transfers, privacy notices, consent, etc.;
Logging monitoring and incident management solutions.
Investing in systems to carry out data discovery exercises to determine what/how/where PII (specifically unstructured data i.e. PII stored on local workstations, emails, file servers, etc.) is handled within the organisation will help Indian companies to enter the GDPR regime smoothly.

[1] http://www.cioandleader.com/article/2017/05/02/india-gets-ready-eu%E2%80%99s-new-data-regime

[2] https://blogs.dsci.in/eu-gdpr-part-i/

Disclaimer

That the contents of third-party articles/blogs published here on the website, and the interpretation of all information in the article/blogs such as data, maps, numbers, opinions etc. displayed in the article/blogs and views or the opinions expressed within the content are solely of the author's; and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of NASSCOM or its affiliates in any manner. NASSCOM does not take any liability w.r.t. content in any manner and will not be liable in any manner whatsoever for any kind of liability arising out of any act, error or omission. The contents of third-party article/blogs published, are provided solely as convenience; and the presence of these articles/blogs should not, under any circumstances, be considered as an endorsement of the contents by NASSCOM in any manner; and if you chose to access these articles/blogs , you do so at your own risk.

dionpwc

Call for Inputs: SEBI's consul...

Swapnil