Belfast Law Firm, Tughans, and leading integrated communications agency, Ardmore Advertising, spearheaded a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Breakfast Briefing at James Street South recently ahead of the introduction of the new regulations later this year.
With GDPR being enforced from 25th May 2018, the breakfast event brought together representatives from NI-wide commercial, residential, tourism and retail sectors to help them gain a better understanding of what the new regulations mean and how this will impact upon their businesses.
Speakers, Adrian O’Connell, Tughans, and Richard Lindsay, Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), shared their extensive experience in the UK Data Legislation field.
Speaking about the event, Adrian O’Connell, Head of Contracts and Technology at Tughans, said:
“Data Protection is one of the specialist practice areas at Tughans. When complying with UK Data Protection legislation, it is important to respond quickly and commercially to issues raised by our clients, as well as demonstrating a comprehensive and specialist knowledge of the applied UK legislations. Local businesses are very aware that GDPR is coming but are less confident about how it will impact them. Therefore, this event offered an important opportunity to dispel the myths and help businesses make practical moves to be prepared.”
Mark Irwin, Ardmore Advertising’s Managing Director, who worked in partnership with Tughans to deliver the event, said:
“Within the advertising and marketing communications sector, it is essential for us and our clients to be aware of data protection when creating and delivering campaigns, especially those involving social media and direct marketing. This includes considering who is responsible for the process, what are the main principles and lawful bases for processing and how personal data will be handled and administered. These new regulations will soon come into effect, so it’s important for local businesses to be aware of how they will impact on their usual practices and what changes they need to make.”
“As a leading integrated agency, it’s crucial that we stay ahead of regulatory changes within our industry and these which might affect our clients. It’s important to us that we continue to keep our clients up to date with professional developments in the sectors they operate.”
The GDPR Regulation (EU) is a regulation by which the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission intend to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the EU.
