January 28th was European Data Protection Day and we marked the event by attending the 9th Annual Data Protection Conference which was held in the Aviva Conference Centre.

The two-day conference featured interactive workshops on the first day on ‘Privacy by Design’ and ‘Conducting a Data Protection Audit’. The second day included a line-up of notable speakers who spoke on topics related to the theme of the conference; “GDPR – It’s here, what’s next”. Dara Murphy, Minister of State for European Affairs, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection spoke about his department’s work in preparing for GDPR and the importance of having a strong, well-resourced Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC). The Minister also announced plans for a data summit in June this year.

A&L Goodbody’s Claire Morrissey presented on “Legal Aspects of the GDPR” and took part in a lively Q&A session. Claire highlighted some of the key changes that the GDPR will bring including the need to demonstrate compliance, the new right of data portability, the new security reporting obligations and the ability for individuals to recover financial and non-financial loss (such as damages for distress or embarrassment in the event of inadvertent disclosure of personal data). She also offered some practical tips for ways in which businesses can prepare for the GDPR (some of which are available here).Continue Reading 9th Annual Data Protection Conference