What Is GDPR and Why Should You Care?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is Europe's comprehensive data protection law. It applies to every business that processes personal data of EU residents — regardless of where the business is based.
If you have employees, customers, or suppliers — you process personal data. Names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, salary details, tax IDs — all of these are personal data protected by GDPR.
Where Are Personal Data in Your Documents?
Personal data are everywhere in business documentation:
- Employment contracts — name, address, national ID, salary
- Invoices — company name, VAT number, address, contact person
- HR files — complete personal data of employees
- Proposals and purchase orders — client contact details
- Email correspondence — names, addresses, communication content
- Medical records — employee health data (special category)
5 Key GDPR Obligations for Document Management
1. Data Minimization
You may only collect data that you actually need. Don't ask for a national ID when you only need an email address. This applies to documents too — don't store documents containing personal data longer than necessary.
2. Storage Limitation
Personal data may only be kept for as long as necessary for its purpose. When the legal retention period for a document expires — you must delete or anonymize it.
A DMS helps you automatically track deadlines and delete documents on time.
3. Data Security
You must implement "appropriate technical and organizational measures" to protect data. This means:
- Encryption of documents containing personal data
- Access control — only authorized persons can access
- Logging — who accessed which data and when
- Backup — protection against data loss
4. Right of Access and Right to Erasure
Every individual has the right to request:
- What data you hold about them
- A copy of that data
- Deletion of all their data ("right to be forgotten")
Without a DMS, finding all documents containing data about one person can take days.
5. Records of Processing Activities
You must maintain records of all personal data processing activities. This includes access to documents containing personal data.
GDPR Fines
| Violation | Maximum Fine |
|---|---|
| Insufficient data protection measures | €10M or 2% of annual revenue |
| Unlawful processing / data breach | €20M or 4% of annual revenue |
| Failure to notify of a data breach | €10M or 2% of annual revenue |
| Ignoring data subject rights | €20M or 4% of annual revenue |
How a DMS Helps with GDPR Compliance
Arhivix is designed with data protection built in:
- AES-256 encryption — all documents encrypted at rest and in transit
- Granular access control — define who can see each document
- Complete audit log — every document access is recorded
- Automatic retention periods — documents are flagged for deletion when the legal period expires
- Person search — find all documents related to one individual in seconds
- EU data residency — data stored on AWS servers in Europe
Conclusion
GDPR compliance isn't optional — it's a legal obligation with severe penalties. Documents are the most common source of personal data in businesses, and managing them properly is the key to compliance.
With Arhivix, data protection is built into the system — you don't have to think about it because everything happens automatically.
