Singapore companies ill-prepared for Europe's data-protection law

Singapore

WITH Europe's formidable new digital privacy standards on the cusp of kicking in, professional services firms in Singapore see an uphill task in making companies here aware of and complying with the new framework.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which takes effect on May 25, has vast extra-territorial reach in its mission to protect the personal information of all European Union residents. It will have the teeth to fine companies up to 4 per cent of their annual global turnover or 20 million euros (S$32 million) for failing to ascertain the kind of personal data they have on customers protected by these rules and how that data is being used.

Technology lawyer Stella Cramer, a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, told The Business Times recently: "My concern in Asia is that companies are still getting to grips about whether or not it applies to them. "Even to this day, we're getting new work in from clients who are just realising…