GDPR basics: Everything you need to know to keep your business compliant

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European Union (EU) regulation that governs the handling of personal data belonging to individuals in the European Economic Area (EEA). It is considered one of the strictest data privacy regulations globally.

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If your organization processes the personal data of EU/EEA residents, complying with the GDPR is mandatory. Failure to meet the regulation’s requirements can result in substantial financial penalties, corrective actions from regulators, and long-term damage to customer trust and business reputation.

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In this guide, we’ll walk you through the GDPR basics to help you achieve compliance with confidence. Here’s what you’ll learn:

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• What GDPR compliance means for your business
• What are the data subject rights under the GDPR
• Who needs to comply with the regulation
• How to achieve and maintain GDPR compliance

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When was the GDPR introduced?

The GDPR was signed into law across the EU in 2016 and officially came into effect in May 2018. It was introduced to address the rapid growth of digital technology and the increasing privacy risks associated with the collection and use of customer data. 

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While the GDPR is often considered a landmark data protection law, it wasn’t the EU’s first attempt to regulate the use of personal data. It was preceded by the 1995 Data Protection Directive, which laid the groundwork for processing and transferring data within the EU.

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However, the directive allowed each Member State to implement its own data privacy laws, creating fragmented and inconsistent rules. The GDPR addressed this issue by introducing a unified framework that strengthened and standardized data protection across the EU.

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Since its introduction in 2018, the GDPR has remained one of the world’s most stringent and comprehensive data privacy laws. Following Brexit, the UK implemented its own data protection law, the UK GDPR, which mostly mirrors the EU regulation. As a result, organizations that comply with the EU GDPR roughly meet the requirements of the UK’s equivalent as well.

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{{cta_withimage14="/cta-blocks"}} | GDPR compliance checklist

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What GDPR compliance means for your business

The GDPR is a way to secure the personal data belonging to individuals in the EU and EEA. Its key goals are to give data subjects greater control over their personal information and establish clear standards for how your business should:

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• Collect, store, and process that data
• Honor the rights of data subjects

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Unlike some other frameworks, the GDPR doesn’t require organizations to undergo a formal audit or attestation process to prove compliance. Instead, organizations are expected to implement the required safeguards internally and demonstrate adherence to regulators when asked.

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Any in-scope organization that fails to meet its requirements may face substantial financial penalties and operational consequences. Fines are divided into two tiers, depending on the nature and severity of the violation:

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Aside from financial fines, supervisory authorities can also impose corrective actions, including formal reprimands and restrictions on data processing.

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What are the 7 GDPR data protection principles?

At the core of the GDPR are the seven data protection principles that shape how organizations collect, process, and safeguard personal data. They form the foundation of responsible data handling and underpin many of the regulation’s key requirements:

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1. Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency: Organizations must have a clear and justifiable lawful basis for processing personal information and must be transparent about how that data is used
2. Purpose limitation: Organizations must only collect information required for a specified and legitimate purpose
3. Data minimization: Data collection must be limited to what’s relevant, adequate, and necessary for the intended purpose
4. Accuracy: All collected data must be accurate and up to date
5. Storage limitation: Collected data should be retained only for as long as it’s needed for a specified purpose
6. Integrity and confidentiality: Data should be protected with appropriate measures to prevent unauthorized access and misuse
7. Accountability: Organizations should be able to demonstrate compliance with the GDPR requirements through proper documentation, policies, and ongoing monitoring

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{{cta_withimage11="/cta-blocks"}}| The US data privacy checklist

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What are the 8 GDPR data subject rights?

In addition to its core data protection principles, the GDPR defines eight data subject rights. These entitlements grant EU residents greater control over their personal data and allow them to hold organizations accountable:

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1. Right to be informed: Individuals have the right to know which of their data is being collected, why, how long it can be retained, and how they can file complaints.
2. Right of access: Individuals can confirm whether their information is being processed and receive a copy of it by submitting a data subject access request (DSAR).
3. Right to rectification: Individuals can request that organizations correct any outdated or incorrect data they may have about them.
4. Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”): Individuals have the right to ask that organizations delete their personal data.
5. Right to restriction of processing: Individuals can request that organizations limit the information about them that they’re processing.
6. Right to data portability: Individuals may obtain the information they’ve provided to an organization in a structured, machine-readable format. They can request that this information be transferred to another organization.
7. Right to object: Individuals can object to the processing of their personal information.
8. Rights related to automated decision-making, including profiling: Individuals have the right not to be subjected to decisions made by automatic profiling or processing if these decisions would have a legal impact or other effects on them.

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Who needs to comply with the GDPR?

The GDPR applies to all organizations that collect, store, or process the personal data of individuals in the EU/EEA, regardless of the organization's location or size.

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If your business is based outside the EU, it still falls within GDPR’s scope if:

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• It offers goods or services to individuals in the EU, even if no payment is involved
• It monitors the behavior of individuals in the EU, such as through cookies or analytics tools

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For example, an organization based outside the EU that partners with Spanish and Portuguese universities to provide course advice to students who create accounts on its platform while processing the students personal data would be within the GDPR’s scope.

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Meanwhile, the GDPR wouldn’t apply if a non-EU organization provides services intended solely for users outside the EU and merely allows incidental access from within the Union, as long as it doesn’t specifically target individuals within the EU.

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What are core GDPR rules you need to follow?

The GDPR outlines a complex set of rules and requirements designed to protect the personal data of EU residents. These comprehensive safeguards apply to every stage of data processing, from collection and storage to breach reporting and data transfers.

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Key GDPR requirements for businesses include:

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• Lawful basis for data processing: Establish and document a valid lawful basis (such as consent, contractual obligations, or legitimate interest) before you start processing any personal information
• Explicit data subject consent: Obtain explicit, specific, and voluntary consent from data subjects before processing their data
• Data subject requests: Implement repeatable procedures for handling requests from data subjects exercising their GDPR rights
• Data breach notification: Create and test an incident response plan that enables you to report breaches within GDPR’s 72-hour timeframe
• Privacy by design and default: Embed privacy into the development process and enable all privacy options for users by default
• Records of processing activities (RoPA): Maintain detailed documentation about the data you collect, the purposes of processing, and the retention period
• Cross-border data transfer mechanisms: Use approved mechanisms, such as adequacy decisions, to safeguard data transferred outside the EU

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How can I make the GDPR compliance process smoother?

If you’re doing business in a way that requires you to follow the GDPR, the compliance process doesn’t have to be as arduous as you might expect. There are specialized tools that can help.

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An effective way to approach GDPR compliance is to combine an automation solution with expert guidance. Automation tools like Vanta help streamline time-consuming workflows and enable real-time monitoring, while GDPR professionals can help interpret complex requirements, ensuring that your measures meet regulatory expectations.

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{{cta_withimage14="/cta-blocks"}} | GDPR compliance checklist

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Smarter compliance: Meet GDPR requirements with Vanta

Vanta is a leading agentic trust platform that helps organizations achieve, maintain, and demonstrate GDPR compliance. It streamlines adherence with pre-built, customizable policy templates, step-by-step guidance that minimizes legal research, and automated evidence collection powered by more than 400 integrations.

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Vanta’s GDPR solution helps minimize compliance risks and optimize your workflows with features such as:

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• Real-time monitoring and risk management for GDPR readiness
• GDPR-specific training modules
• Framework version manager for smooth updates
• A unified dashboard for everything GDPR powered by automated evidence collection, document uploads, and instant security reports

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If you’ve already achieved compliance with other frameworks such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2, Vanta can cross-map your completed evidence across requirements, eliminating redundancies and speeding up compliance processes.

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Schedule a custom demo and see how Vanta helps streamline your GDPR workflows firsthand.

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{{cta_simple19="/cta-blocks"}} | GDPR product page

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FAQs

1. How do I know if GDPR affects my organization?

Start with an internal assessment or get help from a compliance expert. If your findings show that you collect, store, or process personal data of people in the EU as part of your core operations, you’re within the regulation’s scope.

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2. What happens if I don’t comply with the GDPR?

Failure to meet the GDPR’s requirements may result in corrective actions from regulators and substantial financial penalties—up to €20 million or 4% of the company's global annual revenue for the previous year, whichever is higher.

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3. Does the GDPR require certification?

The GDPR doesn’t issue certifications to confirm compliance. However, under Article 42 of the regulation, recognized certification mechanisms, seals, and marks may be offered by accredited data protection bodies as a voluntary way to demonstrate compliance.

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4. Do you need to undergo a GDPR compliance audit?

You’re not required to complete an external audit to achieve GDPR compliance. However, regular internal assessments are crucial for maintaining alignment. Relevant data protection authorities may also conduct audits of your organization following reports of data breaches or complaints from data subjects.

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5. Can GDPR compliance be automated?

Automation can make GDPR compliance processes far more efficient by accelerating repetitive and data-heavy tasks. However, complete automation isn’t possible. Certain activities, such as reviewing breach notifications and DSAR requests involving sensitive information, still require human judgment to ensure accuracy and regulatory alignment.