Data Protection and GDPR

There are some significant changes to Data Protection legislation coming into effect on 25 May 2018 which will have an impact on how the GAA / LGFA at all levels, engages with its members. It is important that every GAA Club, and indeed every member, is aware of how these changes in the law will affect the ways in which members’ personal information can be collected and used for GAA purposes.

What is Data Protection? 
• Data Protection legislation is intended to protect the right to privacy of individuals (all of us) and seeks to ensure that Personal Information is used appropriately by third parties that may have it (Data Controllers).
• In essence Data Protection relates to any information that can be used to identify a living person such as Name, Date of Birth, Address, Phone Number, Email address, Membership Number, IP Address, photographs etc
• There are other categories of information which currently are defined as Sensitive Personal Data which require more stringent measures of protection and these categories include religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, trade union membership, medical information etc.

What is GDPR? 
• The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) is new EU legislation that comes into effect on May 25th 2018.
• It very clearly sets out the ways in which the privacy rights of every EU citizen must be protected and the ways in which a person’s ‘Personal Data’ can and can’t be used.
• It places the onus on the person or entity that collects a person’s information (Data Controller) to comply with the legislation and to demonstrate compliance

Data Protection can be summarised in the following ‘7 Principles’’

Lawfulness, Fairness, Transparency
Purpose Limitation
Data Minimisation
Accuracy
Storage Limitation
Integrity and Confidentiality
Accountability

What does Data Protection Legislation mean to me?
• The legislation sets out rules about how this information (personal Information) can be obtained, how it can be used and how it is stored.
• Every person must give their consent for their data to be collected and processed for a specific purpose which must be communicated to them at the time the data is obtained.
• They must specifically Opt-In and must be allowed to Opt-Out at any time. They must also be given the opportunity to review the consent they have given on a regular basis (i.e. Yearly)
• Data must be kept safe and secure and must be kept accurate and up to date
• An Individual can request a copy of all of the personal information held about them (this is called a Subject Access Request) and must be allowed to have all of their data deleted or returned to them, if they so wish.