Despite being signed into law on June 28th, 2018, and being placed into effect on January 1st 2020, businesses around the world have been wondering what exactly they will have to do to be in compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act. After multiple hearings and drafts, concepts were getting clearer – but still not solidified.
No more! For on Friday August 14th, the Attorney General announced the final regulations, which have passed through the Office of Administrative Law and been released to the public.
Also available is a handy Frequently Asked Questions related to the CCPA.
The critical thing to know about this development is the regulations are effective immediately. In an ideal scenario your organization would have been following the law making process and aligned to the proposed regulations that were released prior to the Office of Administrative Law review so that any changes you would have to make would have been minimal. Should that not have been the case, the best advice I can offer you is to immediately start on the process of reviewing what that means for you with legal counsel.
With the above said a few things buried in the legalese may surprise you – including but not limited to:
- What types of business must comply.
- That notices must be accessible to consumers with disabilities, and online that means compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1.
- Various notices, links and their required locations on your website.
- Specific timelines that are legally binding for different types of consumer requests.
- The difference between personal and household information.
- Rules regarding verification of requests for disclosure or deletion.
and more. There are many steps and processes that must be complied with in order to be in compliance with CCPA. It will take a mix of business, technical and legal personal to come up with and execute a plan for your organization.
I would advise every business that sells to consumers in California to conduct an assessment and comply with the law if they are found required to do so.