Article 3 (1) GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, or GDPR, has a much wider territorial scope than organisations may expect. Some organisations that are not established in the EU may have to comply with the GDPR. Even for groups established in the EU, their operations outside of the EU may, in certain circumstances, fall under the scope of the GDPR.

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has finally published its long-awaited final version of the guidelines 3/2018 on the territorial scope of the GDPR (article 3). Such a standard interpretation is essential for controllers and processors, both within and outside the EU, so that they may assess whether they need to comply with the GDPR for a given processing activity. It is, therefore, essential that controllers and processors, especially those offering goods and services at an international level, undertake a careful, concrete assessment of their processing activities in order to determine whether the related processing of personal data falls under the scope of the GDPR.

Article 3 of the GDPR defines the territorial scope of the regulation using two main criteria with respect to businesses: “Establishment” (Article 3(1)) and “Targeting” (Article 3(2)). We are presenting each of these criteria through two posts. Part 1 is detailed below, Part 2 will be detailed in a separate post shortly hereafter.Continue Reading Territorial Scope of the GDPR Following EDPB’s Final Guidelines (Part 1)