Agreement reached on the General Data Protection Regulation

On 15 December 2015, the EU Commission, Parliament and Council of Ministers reached agreement on the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

Three years in the making, the GDPR is now expected to be formally approved by the EU institutions and then published in the Official Journal early in 2016. It will come into force two years from the date of publication (so probably in early 2018), giving organisations and companies a couple of years to prepare themselves for the new rules.

We summarise key features of the new legislation below.