Privacy notices are essential to business reputation and encourage the development of customer trust and repeat business.
A privacy notice details how you collect, use and store personal information and should include details of how to opt-out. These are often a crucial element of website development, but how often should they be updated?
Privacy laws evolve and businesses need to ensure that their notices reflect current legal requirements. For instance:
- UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 set out specific requirements for privacy notices. If laws are updated or reinterpreted through guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) or court rulings, privacy notices need to be updated to reflect these changes.
- International data transfers post-Brexit have different implications (e.g., with the UK’s adequacy decisions or Standard Contractual Clauses). If your company transfers data to countries outside the UK, your privacy notice should reflect any updates that apply to your industry and business.
Businesses often change the way they collect, use, or share personal data, either through new business operations, new service offerings, changes of partner agencies or business suppliers or by implementing automated processes.
If you introduce new services that involve personal data, the privacy notice must be updated to explain what data is being collected, why, and how it’s used.
Any new service providers, including marketing firms, cloud providers or software providers should be added to your privacy notice, as well as how that impacts users data protection.
Also, a hot topic right now, any AI implementation or other automated services should be disclosed, again, detailing how data protection is involved.
Regardless of business changes, regularly reviewing and updating privacy notices ensures transparency, which is crucial for maintaining customer trust.
Any changes in how to contact your organisation, such as updated Data Protection Officer (DPO) details or customer service contact information, must be reflected in the privacy notice to ensure individuals can exercise their data protection rights.
Over time, as privacy laws evolve or as businesses take on board best practices, these rights may expand or change. For example, it is important to provide clarity on how individuals can access, rectify, or delete their data as well as object or restrict processing.
Failing to update a privacy notice can lead to non-compliance with UK GDPR or the Data Protection Act 2018, potentially leading to substantial fines from the ICO.
If there are changes to how the company handles data security or new risks related to breaches, this should also be communicated in the privacy notice. It should also be clear how data is protected and company processes in case of a data breach.
By keeping privacy notices current, businesses not only stay compliant but also build trust and reduce the risk of penalties. BLS Stay Compliant is well versed in data protection policies and policy review or creation is a popular service. If we can assist you in any way, do get in touch.
