General Data Protection Regulation Overview

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European privacy law (Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 27, 2016) that became enforceable on May 25, 2018. The GDPR replaces the EU Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC), and is intended to harmonize data protection laws throughout the European Union (EU) by applying a single data protection law that is binding throughout each EU member state.

The GDPR applies to all processing of personal data either by organizations that have an establishment in the EU, or to organizations that process personal data of EU residents when offering goods or services to individuals in the EU or monitoring the behavior of EU residents in the EU. Personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.