Online Legal Translations leads the way with GDPR Compliance Program

We’re excited to announce that we have implemented a compliance program pursuant to the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

You may be wondering why a U.S.-based company is concerned about European Privacy Laws.  It’s pretty simple: All companies that handle personal data of EU residents must comply with the GDPR.

Since many of our clients and collaborators are located outside of the United States, many in the EU, we are obliged to comply with any privacy laws and regulations that are applicable to Online Legal Translations by virtue of contact with the people and entities with whom we work.

What’s GDPR?  GDPR regulations will require that companies keep their European customers’ personal data protected, per the standards set in GDPR. Even if you don’t have an office or other presence in Europe, this still applies if you collect even an email address from someone in the EU.

The GDPR took effect in all EU member states on May 25, 2018.

The regulation defines “Controllers” and “Processors” of data. A data controller establishes how and why personal data is processed, while a processor is the party doing the actual processing of the data.  Both have specific obligations under the law and most companies have both controllers and processors within them. Even if controllers and processors are based outside of the EU, the GDPR will still apply to them so long as they deal with personal data belonging to EU residents.

While the application of the law is yet to be refined, and future test cases will surely help us all understand exactly how the law will work, Online Legal Translations has instituted policies and procedures to comply with the various provisions of GDPR as they are currently understood.

We look forward to sharing our GDPR experiences, as well as any developments in the law with other language professionals and legal colleagues.

For more information, visit the EU GDPR Portal at https://www.eugdpr.org/.