The Data & Marketing Association (DMA) is welcoming new GDPR legislation – the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI) – being introduced by the government today in parliament.
The new privacy and data protection laws, which have been designed to cut down on pointless paperwork for businesses and reduce annoying cookie pops-up, are expected to save the UK economy more than £4 billion over the next 10 years.
Described by the DMA as “pro-growth” reforms which have been “achieved through industry collaboration”, the proposed changes are expected to provide businesses with legislative clarity, while maintaining a high standard of protection for customers.
The DPDI Bill contains a series of revisions to three pieces of existing legislation and aims to safeguard key ethical principles, clarify areas of confusion and simplify the demands placed on small businesses.
DMA CEO Chris Combemale chaired the business advisory group which supported Michelle Donelan, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, during the Bill’s most recent phase of consultation “to champion the best interests of both businesses and their customers”.
“We are confident that the bill should act as a catalyst for innovation and growth, while maintaining robust privacy protections across the UK – an essential balance which will build consumer trust in the digital economy,” he added.
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Clarifying GDPR ‘legitimate interests’ for businesses
One of the most significant reforms offered by the bill is greater clarity on what constitutes a legitimate interest. This will encourage more businesses to use it as a lawful basis for marketing and data processing where appropriate.
Many businesses did not have confidence they could rely on legitimate interest as the main legal basis for data collection for marketing, reducing opportunities to attract new customers and find out more about existing customers.
Attracting and retaining customers and donors (through direct marketing) is now clearly identified as a legitimate interest, but customers retain an overriding right to object to marketing should they not wish to do business with a specific organisation.
The DMA community has been active in campaigning for the need to establish legal certainty around legitimate interests for several years and its efforts were instrumental in helping to secure the important reforms.
“Attracting and retaining customers and donors is a fundamental legitimate interest of businesses and charities, so we are delighted the government has acknowledged this in the reforms to help drive innovation and growth,” said Combemale.
“The DMA was well placed to advise on these developments over the past two years through our strong relations with UK businesses and government. It was important to our community that we focused reforms on the needs of both businesses and their customers to ensure the right balance was achieved for all.”
Important reforms for the marketing community
The DPDI bill will also reduce the amount of paperwork that organisations and marketers need to complete to demonstrate compliance in several areas. This change will be especially beneficial to smaller organisations.
An expanded range of cookie exemptions will reduce consent banners, especially for ecommerce and charity websites that do not take advertising, while an extension of the soft opt-in for email to non-commercial organisations will enable charities to communicate with existing donors and volunteers.
The DMA hopes that today’s announcement will provide the foundations for other meaningful reforms integral to data-driven creative industries.
“The DMA will continue working closely with parliament and DSIT as the bill progresses, to continue to seek improvements such as clarity on the scope of industry codes of conduct as specified in UK GDPR,” said Combemale.
“This is significant for creating an industry ethical and legal framework to build trust in the digital economy.”
