If your survey tool uses Privacy Shield, ARE YOU SURE it’s really GDPR compliant?
If your survey tool uses Privacy Shield, ARE YOU SURE it’s really GDPR compliant?
On 16th July 2020, following the Schrems case, the European Court of Justice ruled the EU-U.S Privacy Shield to be invalid. This is because it doesn’t adequately comply with EU Data Protection Laws.
GDPR compliance is essential when using free or Freemium* survey software to collect data. Whilst many of the freemium software tools provide reassurance that they meet GDPR standards, they often host their data in the United States, or other countries outside of the EU and UK.
Many Freemium or non EU/UK based companies will confirm compliance to GDPR by having Privacy Shield. Privacy Shield is not a GDPR compliance tool, but a mechanism that enables participating companies to meet the EU requirements for transferring personal data to third countries, but on 16th July 2020 the European Court of Justice ruled the EU-U.S Privacy Shield to be invalid, because it doesn’t adequately comply with EU Data Protection Laws.
To comply with GDPR in the UK, data collected should not be transferred outside of the European Economic Area.
At Webropol we have been preparing for GDPR since 2017 and regularly review guidelines to ensure that we are fully compliant. Our data centres are based in Finland, part of the European Union and as a result we operate according to these regulations. All of our customer data is stored within the EU, and is never exported or accessed from outside of the EU.
We have implemented features to make managing GDPR obligations easier for our users. This includes a user environment cleaning tool allowing the user to efficiently and permanently delete any surveys containing personal data, including responses and recipient information. To comply with the right to be forgotten we have developed the functionality to search for and delete information about a respondent.
We can provide a competitive quote based on your requirements. Contact us today to find out more at or by calling our dedicated support line, 01788 833881.
*Freemium software provides basic functionality for free with advanced features restricted unless paid for by the user.