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The Data Protection Act is being replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation (the GDPR) which is harmonising data protection law across Europe and is expected to become law in Spring 2016. All organisations dealing with personal data will be required to comply with the GDPR by Spring 2018.

The new regulations will bring a number of important changes to the way data protection is managed. One of these is the principle of “Privacy by Design and Default”.

What does it mean?

This means that all organisations involved in developing and designing applications, services and products used to process personal information must ensure they take account of data protection. This applies at the start of the process and all all relevant stages of the development. It also applies to the organisations purchasing such a system to check that it meets these requirements.

What do I have to do to comply?

The GDPR gives some examples of measures of what should be done to meet these requirements:

• Minimising the information that you process.
• Pseudonymising information (see below).
• Being transparent about what you do with the information.
• Allowing the data subject to monitor data processing.
• Allowing the organisation processing the information to create and improve security features.

An organisation should start with these measures, but can […]

On 23 March 2016, the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) which deals with the administration of Community Trade Marks changed its name to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). This aligns with the current naming convention – as in ‘UKIPO’. Meanwhile, The Community Trade Mark will also change its name to the European Union Trade Mark – which will save the explanation as to what is a CTM.

What’s more, the fee structure has changed and OHIM state that it will result in an overall reduction in the amounts paid.

All existing trade marks and trade mark applications will automatically become European Union Trade Marks (EUTM) and the OHIM website is warning users to be vigilant against organisations sending fraudulent invoices under the old and new logos.

You can find out more about this and see the press release on the OHIM website.

Probert Legal are specialists in trade mark and intellectual property law. For further details, please contact Ed Probert at edmundprobert@www.probertlegal.com

In a poll of 100 hundred medium to large organisations undertaken by computing.co.uk last month,  they found that 44% of the organisations were not even aware of the change to the law or had “vague” awareness and only 20% were well prepared. The report on the survey can be found here.

If you are wondering how the changes will affect your organisation, keep an eye on our blog, we will be publishing guidance on some important points of the new regulations over the next couple of weeks.

You may well have heard that there are some major changes in the pipeline regarding data protection law, which will take effect very soon. This is important new legislation which you really cannot afford to ignore.

The aim of the new European Data Protection Regulation is to harmonise the current data protection laws in place across the EU member states. This means you will need to make changes to the way your company handles data.

Here are the ten essential things you need to know.

1.) The Data Protection Act is being replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation (the GDPR) which is expected to become law in Spring 2016.

2.) All organisations dealing with personal data will be required to comply with the GDPR by Spring 2018.

3.) Organisations will no longer have to register with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) from Spring 2018.

4.) All organisations will have to keep a list of all personal information which they hold and what they do with it.

5.) In some circumstances, loss or misuse of personal data will have to be reported to the ICO (or other appropriate body) without undue delay and where feasible, within 72 hours of the breach. There is also a requirement to inform the individual.

6.) […]