In focus: What GDPR means for your data responsibilities

Brexit is likely to change many aspects of business, commerce and everyday life in the UK but there is one legislative leviathan even Brexit cannot bring down.

From May 25 next year the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force across the 28 European Union states bringing fundamental change to the way personal data is treated.

The regulation was actually adopted in 2016 and caused a flurry of excitement when it hit the statute books, but a two-year transition period defused the impact of its adoption. It has been described as the most heavily-lobbied piece of legislation ever to make it into European law and, according to commentators, it could have been a lot tougher. With the EU’s transitional period due to lapse the clock is now ticking.