What is GDPR?

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. First adopted in April 2016 by the EU, it came into force in the UK on 25 May, 2018. It was the result of many years of work by the EU to bring data protection legislation into line with the ways that personal data is now intertwined in our daily lives.

GDPR requires organisations to protect the personal data and privacy of EU citizens. Since the UK left the EU on 1 January 2021, EU data protection law has now been converted into UK domestic law with some small changes, therefore UK data protection law aligns to GDPR.

Transparency is one of the key principles in GDPR, so all organisations need to provide you with more and clearer information about what happens to your personal data. This means you’ll have more control over how your personal data is used.

GDPR replaced the EU Data Protection Directive which was created before smart phones and social media became common place. So, it needed updating to reflect how data is gathered and shared.

In the UK, the current Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 outlines how your personal information can be used by companies, government and other organisations.

Since the previous DPA, which came into force in 1998, there have been big changes in the volume, variety of ways and the speed that personal data was being produced, used and shared. So, GDPR addressed this and aimed to bring data protection regulation up-to-date with these trends and the DPA 2018 continues to offer this protection. GDPR and DPA 2018 also introduced new and enhanced protections for you and DPA 2018, which came into force on 25 May 2018, and was amended on 1 January 2021 under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 to reflect the UK's status outside of the EU, continues to implement much of GDPR in UK law.

Experian is a leading information services company, which means we look after lots of data. We’ve always been committed to using data responsibly to make a positive difference to you.

But in this modern, data-rich world it can be easy for you to lose track of how your personal data is being used, which is why we work hard to give you complete transparency over what we hold and how we use it.

To earn your trust, we know that at all times, we should respect any personal data we hold about you – to do the right things with it, to protect it, to manage it, and to look after it on your behalf.

For example, we are a custodian of financial data. If you’d like to find out more about the financial data that makes up the credit report which lenders see when you apply for a credit card, loan or mortgage, you can read our guide.

You can also discover which product is right for you to see your own credit data here.

If you’d like more information, please visit our Privacy and Your Data page.