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Professional WordPress GDPR compliance services

Work with an expert team to get WordPress GDPR explained — with the what, why, and how.

If you have questions about GDPR for WordPress and what it means for your website, we offer this handy guide to understanding the requirements of GDPR and how to become compliant. Whether you’re in the EU or within the US, the same data protection regulations can still apply to your WordPress website.

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What is GDPR for WordPress?

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679 is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). The law aims to give citizens more control over their data and to create a uniformity of rules to enforce across the continent. Implementing GDPR into WordPress helps meet this requirement.

Here are some

Best standards for WordPress GDPR compliance

Obtaining consent

Your terms of consent must be clear. This means that you can’t stuff your terms and conditions with complex language designed to confuse your users. Consent must be easily given and freely withdrawn at any time.

Timely breach notification

If a security breach occurs, you have 72 hours to report the data breach to both your customers and any data controllers, if your company is large enough to require a GDPR data controller. Failure to report breaches within this timeframe will lead to fines.

Right to data access

If your users request their existing data profile, you must be able to serve them with a fully detailed and free electronic copy of the data you’ve collected about them. This report must also include the various ways you’re using their information.

Right to be forgotten

Also known as the right to data deletion, once the original purpose or use of the customer data has been realized, your customers have the right to request that you totally erase their personal data.

Data portability

This gives users rights to their own data. They must be able to obtain their data from you and reuse that same data in different environments outside of your company.

Privacy by design

This section of GDPR requires companies to design their systems with the proper security protocols in place from the start. Failure to design your systems of data collection the right way will result in a fine.

Potential data protection officers

In some cases, your company may need to appoint a data protection officer (DPO). Whether or not you need an officer depends upon the size of your company and at what level you currently process and collect data.

Data protection impact assessments

The GDPR requires companies to perform full audits of their data protection processes to ensure that consumer data isn’t at risk. Moreover, the audits need to adhere to specific GDPR standards.

What types of data does the GDPR for WordPress cover?

The concept of ‘private data’ might seem a little too broad.

Generally speaking, the GDPR covers all user information that identifies a person in any way.

This includes:

  • Names and addresses
  • Personal identification documents
  • Web data, such as IP addresses and cookies
  • Data concerning health, race, and sexual orientation
  • Information about political leanings

In a nutshell, the GDPR states that you need to be careful with any and all user information. You are also required to allow users full control over these datasets. Luckily, WP GDPR compliance makes things a little easier, since the platform has been implementing such features into their codebase. We can then plug into some of his data, to get started with some of these requirements.

Why is it important to implement WordPress GDPR compliance?

At its core, the GDPR is all about ensuring that websites act responsibly when it comes to collecting and processing user data.

While users’ rights should always be a priority, there are other reasons you should strive to ensure WordPress GDPR compliance.

Penalties for non-compliance

Companies with websites that aren’t GDPR compliant can incur heavy fines. Fines can rise up to EUR 20 million, or 4% of your overall earnings for the fiscal year. Whether you’re a small or big company, it’s not worth the risk of this possibility.

Improving the user experience

By adhering to GDPR guidelines on your WordPress site, you offer users more control over their data and help them protect their privacy. This translates to a better user experience and increased trust in your brand.

Do GDPR compliance services need to be applied to my website?

Although the GDPR is an EU regulation, it affects businesses and websites worldwide.

If you offer goods or services to EU residents online, then you’re required to comply with regulations by achieving WordPress GDPR compliance, or risk facing heavy fines. Some major businesses across the world have already been fined under the GDPR, including British Airways and Marriott International. In both cases, the fines cost dozens of millions of EUR if you don’t have a GDPR compliance website.

Not sure? Ask us about GDPR

Why do I need help ensuring WordPress GDPR compliance?

The GDPR is a massive piece of legislation that’s difficult to navigate.

Earlier, we covered some of the standards your website needs to meet in order to be fully compliant with the GDPR. When you consider all the requirements, managing data protection almost becomes a full-time job.

In fact, if your company is located outside of the EU, you may need to designate a representative who can communicate back and forth with supervisory authorities. Depending on the type of business you run, we can help you figure out the best solution so you’re not in breach of any GDPR rules. With a little help, WordPress GDPR compliance is within your reach.

Since Freshy uses WordPress, are client websites GDPR compliant?

FreshySites LLC is owned and operated in the United States and therefore does not by default build in GDPR compliance for our websites. Freshy’s clients are solely responsible for their website and data compliance with GDPR standards. With that said, we do offer GDPR compliance services for WordPress websites and a GDPR WooCommerce option, via an additional scope of work. We’re happy to implement this.

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Can Freshy help our WordPress website become GDPR compliant?

Freshy can assist in this process through a series of alterations to a client’s WordPress website and an additional scope of work. Please reach out if you are interested and we can discuss what it would take to bring your site up to this new EU standard! If you’re beginning a new project with us, we can combine GDPR and WordPress to add our GDPR compliance service to your initial WordPress website as we build it.

A quick legal note about our GDPR compliance service

While Freshy is able to help with these compliance standards, as always, all client website information, data, etc is fully and solely owned by the client organization. FreshySites LLC does not own any client content, data, etc and is not responsible for any compliance or standards imposed on the same, including GDPR in WordPress.