The requirements laid out in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are set to activate on May 25th, but according to a recent study, many brands aren’t yet in compliance. The study was conducted by Databoxer, and it found that 49% of UK consumers haven’t yet received an email from any brands requesting permission to continue to use their personal data. This is a requirement under the GDPR regulations.
The survey reached out to 1000 consumers. Only 34% said that they specifically remember receiving the emails from brands asking for their consent. The average consumer in the UK is signed up for 12 email marketing lists, so it is almost certain that most of the companies behind the lists aren’t ready for the GDPR regulations to be in place.
Of those who responded to the survey saying that they got an email asking for permission to continue using their data, 63% said they accepted the request, and 37% declined.
The co-founder of the GDPR compliance platform, Tim Haynes, said that the research done, “clearly shows that brands still don’t know where to start when it comes to getting permission from consumers to use their data.”
He went on to say that, “re-permissioning is a hugely important task for businesses right now. I’d strongly advice businesses start a re-permissioning campaign ahead of the GDPR date.”
Once GDPR is fully in place, many brands will likely still be in violation of the new regulations. The big questions will be what exactly lawmakers are going to do about it. If they begin cracking down right away, it is almost certainly going to hurt the small businesses that don’t have the resources to invest in compliance the most. Large companies have the money needed to hire someone to ensure compliance (or even to pay the fines, if needed).
This type of regulation is just one more example of how government action will hurt the small business the most, while positioning large companies to continue dominating the landscape.
