My company has a large email database we need to gain GDPR consent from. Do we need the same consent from data subejcts outside the EU? Does GDPR apply to people outside the EU if the company processing their information is inside the EU?
Alasdair Taylor's Answer
Article 3 covers territorial scope:
“1. This Regulation applies to the processing of personal data in the context of the activities of an establishment of a controller or a processor in the Union, regardless of whether the processing takes place in the Union or not.
2. This Regulation applies to the processing of personal data of data subjects who are in the Union by a controller or processor not established in the Union, where the processing activities are related to: (a) the offering of goods or services, irrespective of whether a payment of the data subject is required, to such data subjects in the Union; or (b) the monitoring of their behaviour as far as their behaviour takes place within the Union.
3. This Regulation applies to the processing of personal data by a controller not established in the Union, but in a place where Member State law applies by virtue of public international law.”
So, under 3(1) if you are “processing … personal data in the context of the activities of an establishment of a controller or processor in the Union” then the location of data subjects does not affect the appilcability of the GDPR.
