We’d like to make an announcement regarding the upcoming GDPR deadlines and how we’re preparing for it.

Update May 22nd 2018: 

We expect to release an update today tomorrow, and whilst we’re cutting it pretty close, as it’s now taking its final shape the work involved to get ‘compliant’ will likely be minimal. We’ll be hooking into WP’s export/erasure tools and insert checkboxes to the booking/event forms automatically.

The only initial action on your part is just revising your privacy policy which we’ll already generated text for if you’ve not created one yet. If you already have a policy, we’ll also add a sample of text on our release blog post.

In short, Events Manager (and Pro) is currently not  GDPR compliant, but it will be, and in time for the deadline.

What is the GDPR?

The internet is abuzz with a new acronym – GDPR. This is a new EU Regulation that will come into force on May 25th 2018, which expands on the previous EU Data Protection laws and imposes further responsibilities upon any website owner that interacts with EU users in any way where personal data is collected.

Whilst this doesn’t affect everyone in the world, it will affect the vast majority of websites that are open to the international public. This is particularly true for Events Manager, since information is collected from users any time an event is submitted or a booking is made. Unless you close your site to the whole of Europe, it’s likely you’ll need to be prepared for compliance.

Is WordPress GDPR compliant?

Well, the answer is the same as ours… not yet. The WP GDPR compliance team is made of some brave volunteers who have been hard at work discussing, planning and implementing these features for many months now. Today, a beta is scheduled for the 4.9.6 release with the focus on GDPR with an expected release date near the GDPR deadline.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that WordPress will never be ‘Compliant’ out-the-box. No plugin will automatically make your site GDPR compliant, as the burden lies on the website owner to ensure they meet the GDPR requirements. However, it will provide you with additional tools to allow you to comply with the GDPR requirements.

So… how is Events Manager preparing for GDPR compliance?

Like WordPress, we need to provide you with tools and information that’ll allow you to be GDPR compliant.

We are well aware of the upcoming WP GDPR implementation guideline and have been for some time now, following their progress. However, we have held back from implementing anything just yet as we’re keen to integrate with the upcoming GDPR compliance tools currently being produced for WordPress in general, rather than creating our own separate tools. We feel that the more we integrate with the core GDPR tools, the less confusing it’ll be for everyone.

We’re looking forward to exploring the upcoming betas and RC’s as we integrate and implement our own compliance measures to ensure you, our users, can meet your compliance requires as smoothly and painlessly as possible.

How is everyone else preparing for GDPR compliance?

You may be thinking that we’re all leaving this pretty close to the deadline. Well, we’re not alone here, and neither are you!

Take a look at your inbox for proof… You’re probably receiving an unusually high number of emails over the past and upcoming weeks from the various online services  you’re signed up to regarding updated privacy policies(including the big guys like Google, Twitter, Facebook et. al). Some do and some don’t mention the GDPR, but generally speaking, everyone is dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s weeks before the deadline arrives.

Stay tuned…

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be reviewing our plugin features and doing everything possible to ensure that you can use Events Manager and adhere to the new laws. We’ll be following up once this is ready.