Not complying with GDPR from Australia

Sarah_Hare
Level 2

Not complying with GDPR from Australia

We are an Australian company that does not sell, market to or do any business across the EU and as such we do not wish to comply with the GDPR.  But, given we use Marketo we find ourselves in the position of inadvertently collecting data on people who we don't want to be.

I'm after some clarification after reading ALL the information here - Is it possible to enable "Do Not Track" for certain geographical reasons? I.e. the EU.

I am investigating WordPress Plugins as well but cannot get a straight definitive answer.

One idea that I am keen on is removing all EU options from forms and adding a disclaimer to the forms/ privacy policy saying our products are not for them BUT we will still be tracking them!

A simple (or even complicated but correct) answer would be most appreciated.

Thanks so much,

Tags (3)
2 REPLIES 2
Grégoire_Miche2
Level 10

Re: Not complying with GDPR from Australia

Hi Sarah,

A simple (or even complicated but correct) answer would be most appreciated.

That's a challenge, are I am not sure there is such a "correct" answer on this

While your company is located and doing business in Australia only, the risk is minimal or nil. The EU is not going to sue your company in Australia. The risk suddenly becomes serious if you decide to open a branch in a EU country and you have been breaching the GDPR for a while.

Also, you need to comply to opt-in/opt-out regulation per the Australian law, which provides a first level of regulation coverage anyway. I gather (correct me if I am wrong) that you need at least to have an opt-in cookie in place and an email opt-out policy too.

Last, you can use some IP based country filter for DNT certains countries, but it is not 100% bullet proof. What about a EU citizen traveling in Australia and connecting on your web site? What about people using VPN to connect to the internet and therefore giving the system a wrong location?

-Greg

Josh_Hill13
Level 10 - Champion Alumni

Re: Not complying with GDPR from Australia

In addition, please discuss with your Legal Counsel.

Australian rules are more restrictive in some cases than GDPR, so you'd effectively comply with most of it by default.