Consent under the EU GDPR

Answer:

Where consent has been given under the Data Protection Directive, it will continue to be valid under the EU GDPR only if it also meets the requirements of the Regulation.

This may be difficult given the new and stringent requirements for consent. If the consent is does not meet the requirements of the EU GDPR you should consider approach the existing customers or to obtain a fresh consent that is valid under.

Consent under the EU GDPR needs to be “freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the individual’s wishes”. This means among others that:
- Inactivit y or silence is not enough and the use of “pre-ticked boxes” is not permitted so the opt-out solution will not work.
- “Bundle consent” is not allowed. Where different processing activities are taking place, consent is presumed not valid unless the individual can consent to them separately.
- The individual can withdraw consent at any time and must be told of that right prior to giving consent. It should be as easy to withdraw consent as it is to give it.

If your consent does not comply with these requirements you would need to approach he data subjects again to obtain fresh new EU GDPR compliant consent.

You might find these materials on consent useful for your task:
- https://advisera.com/eugdpracademy/webinar/how-gdpr-affects-marketing-practices-free-webinar-on-demand/;
- https://advisera.com/eugdpracademy/knowledgebase/four-main-questions-for-obtaining-and-managing-data-subjects-consent-under-gdpr/;
- https://advisera.com/eugdpracademy/blog/2018/02/08/how-does-gdpr-impact-marketing-activities/