State 21 ( Richard Rowland) presented to over 60 British Marine South members gathered at the Royal Southern Yacht Club Hamble on Thursday 26th April 2018 for a presentation on GDPR The presentation provoked and number of questions in relation to the practical implications when the legislation comes into force on 25th May 2018. Following the presentation Richard was joined joined by Peter West Ferguson West Ltd who clearly is a subject matter expert. Peter is the current head of Data Protection for Kent & Essex Police and has been working very closely with the Information Commissioners Office on the practical implications for SME’s.
A number of very pertinent questions were asked of the panel which was relevant to operating a small business in the marine industry during these changing times of data handling, processing, retention and use of for marketing purposes. In addition to what is obvious when it comes to data such as financial records, contact lists for marketing but less obvious items such as CV retention post a recruitment process and accident books which contain sensitive data became subjects of discussion. Afterwards, British Marine members enjoyed one to one questions with the presenters during a networking session.