The General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR, that goes into effect on Friday, May 25, 2018 will require companies that do business in the EU to provide a form to the companies that they are dealing with. It is not clear if it is necessary to supply such a form to each and every individual that a company deals with. A survey by
CompliancePoint shows that 76% of U.S. businesses are not prepared for the enforcement deadline. (Check out
previous story.)
This regulation strengthens the privacy rights of individuals living in the European Union (not only E.U. citizens) but it also applies to anyone who does business with those persons, even if that simply means collecting data for marketing purposes.?
You may be required to inform any and all individuals whose personal information you have collected, or retained, and explain exactly what data you hold and how it may be used. You must also allow the individual whose data you hold to delete their account, modify their data or have their data removed.
The DMLA (Digital Media Licensing Association) has provided a sample
Form that can be customized and sent to everyone that businesses are required to inform.
One provision of particular importance to photographers and stock agencies says, “If you are a contributor and have submitted model releases with any content, we will retain the releases to comply with our legal obligations, dispute resolutions, licensing transactions, or to enforce our contractual obligations. We will not publicly disclose any Personal Information regarding any model.”
Exactly how a photographer stores his own releases and what stock agencies do with the information in releases once they have been supplied by the photographer, may be a new concern and a liability for photographers.