Monday 22 January 2018

One in four London businesses unaware of new data protection regulation

A quarter (24%) of London businesses are not aware of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – with only a few months to go before it becomes law, a new survey has found.

The poll of more than 500 businesses commissioned by London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) also found that, of those business decision-makers who believe that the GDPR will affect them, just 16% say their business is already prepared for it.

Of the same group, one in five (21%) say their business would like to prepare for the GDPR but needs to find out more about it.

One in three (34%) of the London business community say that the GDPR is not relevant to their business.

Chief Executive of LCCI said: “Businesses that are already vigilant about their data protection responsibilities, are unlikely to be unduly burdened by the new legislation.

“However we would urge businesses to take this opportunity to review their processes to see if they need to make any changes to be compliant.”

0n 25th May the GDPR will replace the Data Protection Act (1998) and introduce tougher fines for breaches.

Crucially for businesses, the GDPR sets out much bigger fines for non-compliance — up to 4 per cent of global annual turnover.

Currently the Information Commissioner’s Office can issue a maximum fine of £500,000 for breaches of data rules.

ENDS

Media contact
Katharine Barney
T: +44 (0)20 7203 1897
M: +44 (0)7827 241528
E: kbarney@londonchamber.co.uk

NOTES TO EDITOR:
1. London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) is the capital’s largest and most representative business organisation, with members ranging in size from multi-national companies to SMEs and sole traders.
2. Colin Stanbridge, Chief Executive is available for further comment and interview.
3. ComRes surveyed 577 London business decision-makers, weighted to be representative of all London businesses by company size and broad industry sector, online between 2 and 27 November 2017 for LCCI. Full data tables are available at www.comresglobal.com