GDPR is here

Since the announcement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) back in 2016, organisations have been on a long journey reviewing their policies and procedures to make sure they complied with the new law by 25^th May 2018.

Here is a summary of how TRL prepared for GDPR and is conforming to the legislation.

Last year the Head of Risk, Compliance and Business Improvement at TRL set up a GDPR working group which included our Expert Witness and Investigations team, to ensure the business followed the 12 steps outlined in the Information Commissioner Office (ICO) guidelines.

Privacy Notice

• Updated the Privacy Notice on our website, clearly detailing how TRL collects, stores and processes personal data in a manner that is compliant with GDPR.
• All marketing emails from TRL now include links to our Privacy Notice and a preference centre, giving people the option to unsubscribe from TRL emails.
• TRL’s Customer Resource Management System (CRM) is our central database for storing personal data in a consistent and secure location. We have added new fields in our CRM, enabling us to process and track peoples’ contact preferences, subscription date and if they unsubscribe.

Handling personal data

• Reviewed and revised all Expert Witness procedures for handling personal data, including but not limited to:
  • handling new enquiries
  • preparing cost estimates
  • how to share data
  • data retention policy
  • archiving cases
• In April 2018, TRL sent out our GDPR Data Handling Agreement – TRL as the Processor document to the Data Protection/Compliance contacts for all solicitor clients we had worked with over the last 5 years, asking them to read, sign and return them.

Personal and sensitive data management procedure

• TRL updated its ‘Personal and Sensitive Data Management Procedure and Guidance’ which applies across the business, including advice on reporting breaches and gathering, storing and disposing of data.
• TRL has introduced a Personal Data Register which contains the information previously detailed in Data Protection Impact Assessments.

Terms and conditions

• The Expert Witness and Investigations Team have reviewed and updated TRL’s Terms and Conditions to ensure that they align to GDPR.