CompliNEWS | Financial Service Intelligence Watch
New tool launched to help small businesses create privacy notices
A new, easy-to-use tool has been launched in the UK to assist small businesses and sole traders in creating bespoke privacy notices, ensuring they comply with data protection laws. Under these laws, all organisations holding personal information must explain why they have it and how they use it. The new privacy notice generator offers a quick and tailored solution for small organisations across various sectors, including finance, education, health and retail. This tool allows businesses to produce customised privacy notices that can be displayed on websites or included in other communications, helping them to protect information rights and provide clarity to customers, suppliers, staff and volunteers.
Users of the tool have praised its simplicity and effectiveness. Bob Iles, an artist and small business owner, found the generator user-friendly and intuitive, allowing him to quickly create a privacy document for his website. Similarly, Noir Space BH Ltd, a small enterprise, highlighted the generator’s clear instructions and useful features, such as the ability to download and amend the template. The tool is part of an initiative by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to make data protection compliance less stressful for smaller organisations, enabling them to focus on their core activities. Tina McKenzie from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) expressed support for the tool, noting its potential to reduce costs and simplify the compliance process for small firms. The ICO encourages all small organisations, even those with existing privacy notices, to use the generator to ensure their notices are up to date. The privacy notice generator is available on the ICO’s website.
Read the Full ICO release here
Here is the link to the free tool
Although the privacy notice generator is a UK-based tool, there is no doubt that firms in South Africa can also benefit from its features and the insightful questions it poses. The tool is designed to guide organisations through the process of creating a comprehensive privacy notice, ensuring that all necessary aspects of data protection are covered. By using this tool, South African firms can gain valuable insights into best practices for managing personal information, which is critical under data protection laws similar to the UK’s.
The questions posed by the tool can help South African businesses evaluate their own data protection measures, ensuring they are transparent with customers, suppliers, staff, and volunteers about how personal information is handled. Even though the tool is tailored for UK compliance, the principles it addresses are universal in nature, making it a useful resource for firms in South Africa aiming to strengthen their data protection practices and maintain trust with their stakeholders.