Understand the EU’s ‘General Data Protection Regulation’

The European Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka will be hosting an event on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to provide information to businesses and organisations in Sri Lanka which process, collect and store personal data of citizens of the European Union, about the impact of the GDPR. 

The ECCSL’s event – “Understand the EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)” on 9 May at Hilton Colombo Residences from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. will provide information to businesses on what the GDPR is about and its potential impact.

The program will be introduced by and moderated by John Wilson, Attorney-at-Law and Notary Public, a Director of the European Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, and will feature three well known speakers: Dr Ralf Sauer – Deputy Head of Unit in charge of international data flows and consumer protection at the European Commission, via video conference link; Jayantha Fernando – Program Director/Legal Advisor Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) and Roshan Chandraguptha – Principal Information Security Engineer – Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT).

The GDPR contains controversial long arm provisions which purport to extend its provisions beyond EU based organisations to their providers outside the EU (e.g. a cloud computing company, or a third-party payment provider).

Theoretically companies in breach of GDPR obligations could face severe fines, and with an implementation date of 25 May, time is running out to ensure compliance. The GDPR potentially affects all companies currently holding personal data in the form of customer/business contact details of EU citizens

GDPR also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU. The regulation makes it clear that it does not just apply to European companies, but any business processing the data of EU citizens, even if not based in the EU.

The event is open to both members of the ECCSL and non-members. For registration please contact Kamalka/Shantali on 11-250-7622 or [email protected], [email protected].