GDPR Compliance Statement

The EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (“GDPR”) came into force across the European Union on 25th May 2018 and brought with it changes to data protection legislation across the world for European residents data. Based on privacy by design and taking a risk-based approach, GDPR has been designed to meet the requirements of the digital age.

The 21st Century brings with it broader use of technology, new definitions of what constitutes personal data, and a vast increase in cross-border processing. The Regulation aims to standardise data protection legislation for the processing of  EU residents data; affording individuals stronger, more consistent rights to access and control of their personal information.

In the UK this is also supported by the Data Protection Act 2018.

Our Commitment

Code Software is committed to ensuring the security and protection of the personal information that we process although this is minimal; and to provide a compliant and consistent approach to data protection. We have always had a robust and effective data protection program in place which complies with existing legislation and that abides by best practice data protection principles. However, we recognise our obligations in updating and expanding this program to meet the demands of GDPR and the UK’s Data Protection Act 2018.

Code Software is dedicated to safeguarding the personal information under our remit and in developing a data protection regime that is effective, fit for purpose and demonstrates an understanding of, and appreciation for the GDPR and other related legislation. Our preparation and objectives for GDPR compliance have been summarised in this statement and include the development and implementation of new policies, procedures, controls, and measures to ensure maximum and ongoing compliance.

Implementing GDPR Policies

Code Software already has a consistent level of data protection and security controls across our organisation. However, with the introduction of GDPR, we have augmented our policies in order to be fully compliant:

• Information Audit – carrying out a company-wide information audit to identify and assess what personal information we hold, where it comes from, how and why it is processed and if and to whom it is disclosed.
• Policies & Procedures – Implementing data protection policies and procedures to meet the requirements and standards of GDPR and any relevant data protection legislation, including: –
• Data Protection – our main policy and procedure document for data protection has been overhauled to meet the standards and requirements of GDPR. Accountability and governance measures are in place to ensure that we understand and adequately disseminate and evidence our obligations and responsibilities, with a dedicated focus on privacy by design and the rights of individuals.
• Data Retention & Erasure – we have updated our retention policy and schedule to ensure that we meet the ‘data minimisation’ and ‘storage limitation’ principles and that personal information is stored, archived and destroyed compliantly and ethically. We have dedicated erasure procedures in place to meet the new ‘Right to Erasure’ obligation and are aware of when this and other data subject’s rights apply; along with any exemptions, response timeframes and notification responsibilities.
• Data Breaches – our breach procedures ensure that we have safeguards and measures in place to identify, assess, investigate and report any personal data breach at the earliest possible time. Our procedures are robust and have been disseminated to all employees, making them aware of the reporting lines and steps to follow.
• International Data Transfers & Third-Party Disclosures – where Code Software stores or transfers personal information outside the EEA, we have robust procedures and safeguarding measures in place to secure, encryption and maintain the integrity of the data. Our procedures include a continual review of the countries with sufficient adequacy decisions, as well as provisions for restricted transfer agreements standard GDPR model clauses or approved codes of conduct such as Privacy Shield for those countries without. We carry out strict due diligence checks with all recipients of personal data to assess and verify that they have appropriate safeguards in place to protect the information, ensure enforceable data subject rights and have effective legal remedies for data subjects where applicable.
• Subject Rights Requests – we have revised our Subject Rights request procedures to accommodate the revised month timeframe for responding to rights requests, apart from where requests are complex where this timeframe may be extended and communicated to the requester.  There will be no charge for processing requests. Our new procedures detail how to verify the data subject, what steps to take for processing an access request, what exemptions apply and a suite of response templates to ensure that communications with data subjects are compliant, consistent and adequate.

Rights requests relating to our customer data will be referred to the customer as the Data Controller of the personal data.

• Legal Basis for Processing – Where we process data on your behalf, we are your data processor and we process your data under the legal basis you have identified as the Data Controller.  Our relationship with you will be contractual. We are the data controller for the personal information of our business contacts under the legal basis of legitimate interest and or employees under Legal obligation, contractual requirement, and legitimate interest. We also maintain records of our processing activities, ensuring that our obligations under Article 30 of the GDPR and Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Bill are met.
• Privacy Notice/Policy –Privacy Notice(s) have been implemented to comply with GDPR, ensuring that all individuals whose personal information we process have been informed of why we need it, how it is used, what their rights are, who the information is disclosed to and what safeguarding measures are in place to protect their information and how to raise queries , rights requests or complaints
• Obtaining Consent – We do not rely on consent for the minimal data processing we do, however where this became relevant  we have enhanced our consent mechanisms for obtaining personal data, ensuring that individuals understand what they are providing, why and how we use it and giving clear, defined ways to consent to us processing their information. We have developed stringent processes for recording consent, making sure that we can evidence an affirmative opt-in, along with time and date records; and an easy to see and access way to withdraw consent at any time.
• Direct Marketing – Code Software do not and will not use any personal information for direct marketing purpose.
• Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) – Code Software does not process personal information that is considered high risk or includes special category/criminal conviction data.  We would consider the requirement for a DPIA if we used new or innovative ways to process personal data that may cause a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals.
• Processor Agreements – We do not use any third parties to process personal information on our behalf
• Special Category Data – We do not obtain or process any special category data.
• Breach – We have data breach procedures which include notification of significant breaches should one occur in line with UK Information Commissioner guidance.

Data Subject Rights

In addition to the policies and procedures mentioned above that ensure individuals can enforce their data protection rights, we can provide information of an individual’s right to access any personal information that Code Software processes about them and to request information about: –

• What personal data we hold about them
• The purposes and legal basis of the processing
• The categories of personal data concerned
• The recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed
• How long we intend to store your personal data for
• If we did not collect the data directly from them, information about the source
• The right to have incomplete or inaccurate data about them corrected or completed and the process for requesting this
• The right to request erasure of personal data (where applicable) or to restrict processing in accordance with data protection laws, as well as to object to any direct marketing from us and to be informed about any automated decision-making that we use
• Right to object to processing of personal data.
• The right to lodge a complaint or seek judicial remedy and who to contact in such instances

Information Security & Technical and Organisational Measures

Code Software takes the privacy and security of individuals and their personal information very seriously and takes every reasonable measure and precaution to protect and secure the personal data that we process. We have robust information security policies and procedures in place to protect personal information from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction and have several layers of security measures, including:

• Secure Backups and change processes
• Secure authentication controls with multi factor
• Encrypted data transfer over SSL TLS 1.2 channels.

GDPR Roles and Employees

Code Software understands that continuous employee awareness and understanding is vital to the continued compliance of GDPR. If you have any questions regarding our GDPR policies, please contact Mark Armstrong who is responsible for Data protection and Information Security at Code Software.