It is important to study the new Data Protection Law in Spain in every HR department. This can avoid sanctions, reprimands, as well as create a safe organizational climate. If you are concerned about the status of your company with respect to the new Data Protection Law in force, it is imperative that you pay attention to the implications it entails, find out here!
What is the new Data Protection Law in Spain?
The Data Protection Law in Spain has its origin in the European Data Protection Regulation, which seeks to ensure proper control and care of personal data, whose right is essential for all citizens.
Thanks to it, it is ensured that personal data of any person is used for the purpose of violating their privacy, freedoms and elementary rights.
In the year 2000 the Data Protection Law was activated in Spain, officially named “Organic Law 15/1999, of December 13, 1999, on the Protection of Personal Data”.
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Who must comply with the new Data Protection Law in Spain?
The general regulation of the Data Protection and Digital Rights Act is aimed at all companies that use personal data of third parties. In essence, the law provides for:
The new Data Protection Law in Spain generally applies to any automated processing of personal data, whether partial or total. Also, it is applied to any processing that is not duly authorized to provide personal information, which is usually attached to a file.
What obligations will companies have under the current Data Protection Law?
The Data Protection and Digital Rights Act stipulates that for proper compliance, companies, in particular the HR department, must abide by a series of obligations. These are:
How does the new Data Protection Law affect your HR department?
The current Data Protection Law can have a serious impact on the HR department, since it is an area that stores a large amount of personal information.
It is essential to obtain documents with verifiable consent, primarily from all those individuals who work with personal data.
There are several situations that can influence the company’s HR department:
Selection Processes
A candidate, through the Data Protection Act 2022, can know what will be the destination of his or her personal information when he or she attends a selection process.
The applicant may request whether his data will be shared with third parties. Either to provide specific information, to verify whether the profile is real or not, or to request a copy of the data stored in the company.
Resume in an HR department
A résumé may be kept by the company for up to two years. After that time, the consent of the person concerned must be required to update the information contained therein.
Security
Every HR department needs to request adequate tools to ensure the appropriate levels of security. Especially when storing candidate and employee data.
If there is an attack at the time of accessing the information and the company does not secure the stipulated channels, heavy penalties may be imposed on the company.
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5 Tips for your HR department to comply with the Data Protection Law
- Manage employee information requests
The firm’s employees have every right to access any information the company has about them and request a copy of it.
The most effective, instantaneous and legal way that can be agreed upon is that the employee does not need to request his or her data, but that there is a secure mechanism to access it.
- Saving the correct information
The new Data Protection Law in Spain establishes that companies must store only the correct and updated information, as well as modify it if there is data that is not the real one.
- Structuring an organizational climate where there is a culture of privacy.
The regulation aims to make workers more secure with their respective companies, having access to their personal information whenever they want. Therefore, it is a priority to encourage the culture of personal data privacy, which would generate a better valuation to the company.
Human resources personnel should be aware, from the outset, of the dangers and the degree of responsibility involved in handling employee information.
- Clarity in communication
It is essential to design a communication plan within the company, which will serve for each of the workers to know how their access to their personal data should be. At the same time, to have an alternative plan if there is any change.
Much of the regulation hints that firms are obliged to communicate accurately regarding the length of time an employee’s personal information will be stored.
- Use a single HR program to ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act.
Since personal data is involved, the human resources program that is usually used must effectively comply with the Law on Data Protection and Guarantee of Digital Rights. It is important to note that some programs do not comply with the regulation, which leads to an immediate review by the company that develops it.
If proper verification is not done, the employee’s data may be at risk, so HR personnel will be responsible for what happens.
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Complying with the new Data Protection Law in Spain is essential for every company today. For this reason, the HR department plays a transcendental role in the correct compliance with the law, guaranteeing the integrity of workers’ personal data.
Do you want to shield your HR department against the new data protection law? In TAS Consultancy we have the best specialists to advise on this new legislation. If you consider our presence essential, do not think twice and schedule a consultation with the team. Enter our website or write our email tasconsultoria@tas-sl.es
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