Are eCommerce Websites Covered By GDPR Regulations

In 2018, the European Union (EU) enforced the GDPR (General Data Regulation Protection) privacy law. And this policy requires all websites to comply with the stated regulations to protect the personal data of EU citizens regardless if the company is operating within EU countries or based on other countries around the world.

The 2 main objectives of implementing the GDPR policy are: to establish clear rules on how the personal data of internet users should be processed and give EU citizens more control on how their personal data should be used, processed, and distributed by websites. And in light of this matter, are eCommerce websites covered by GDPR regulations? If so, what should be done to ensure an eCommerce store is GDPR compliant?

If you want to know more, then we invite you to continue reading as we’ll tackle this topic in today’s post.

So Must eCommerce Sites Comply With The GDPR Policy

The answer to this question is YES simply because of 2 things: GDPR Policy covers ALL websites and eCommerce stores process, collects, and store personal data of their customers, which may include people from EU countries.

Most of us don’t know this but one of the main reasons why GDPR was created to target sites like eCommerce stores because:

• They gather names, shipping addresses, personal addresses, and other personal information to identify their customers.
• They collect credit card details and sensitive or in some cases, revealing information that needs to be processed securely.
• Technical details like cookies and IP addresses that can be used to track the whereabouts of individuals.

All these things are classified as personal data and therefore GDPR applies to eCommerce stores regardless of how they are using these pieces of information, especially if your store is dealing with EU consumers.

What Should eCommerce Sites Do To Abide By The Regulations Indicated In The GPDR Policy

The GDPR policy is composed of 88 pages. Now that’s a lot of pages to read, and if you can’t them all then don’t worry as we’ll provide you with the 7 basic principles that you need to keep in mind:

1. Lawfulness, Transparency, And Fairness – Regardless of the data you are collecting from your customers, you have to be fair and transparent with how the data is displayed and used. In short, what you say must correspond to what you do and that your customers must be able to see these actions whenever necessary.
2. Purpose Limitation – Processing of personal data must be legitimate, specified, and explicit. For instance, if your customer gave you the consent to get his/her email address so you can send newsletters, this data should only be used for that purpose alone.
3. Data Minimization – The data collected from the customers should be only limited to what is only necessary. Also, the information should correspond to the purpose of how they are going to be used (example: collected credit card details should only be for processing of payments for orders).
4. Accuracy – Personal data should be up-to-date and any outdated data that is stored must be discarded immediately.
5. Storage Limitation – Any data that is deemed “useless” should be deleted immediately unless there are legal reasons why your site is still storing it. And if the data must be store, you must indicate the duration of the storage and the purpose why you are still keeping the customer’s personal information.

6 Integrity And Confidentiality – You are responsible for protecting customers’ data to prevent theft and unauthorized access, or loss.

7. Accountability – You are required to document all the steps you have taken in detail to ensure your eCommerce site is GDPR-compliant. This is necessary so the EU government will be able to understand you have taken whether you have handled the GDPR compliance internally or outsource a data protection specialist in the event of data compromise.

If you need some help with GDPR compliance, you can contact Metaverse Law in CA today.