New EU regulations have 'gone a step too far' and will have to be wound back, says CEO

GDPR is 'ridiculous' and is full of contradictions, according to The Search Party's Ben Hutt

The new EU regulations are "ridiculous" and have "gone a step too far", according to the CEO of global recruitment firm The Search Party, Ben Hutt.

Hutt, who was speaking at Computing's Big Data & Analytics Summit 2016, suggested that the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), which represent a major change in the way that personal data must be managed for any organisation that does business in, or with, the EU, will have to be amended because it has a number of contradictions and will make it harder for an organisation like his to operate.

"I think the EU has gone one step too far and I think [the GDPR] will have to be wound back because it actually stops a lot of businesses like mine doing what they need to do," he said.

The Search Party is a global firm, said Hutt, which operates in the EU, Canada, Australia and the US. He suggested that any proposed changes to the regulation would have to come from those within the IT industry, but he predicts that the regulations would be relaxed.

"It is ridiculous and there are a whole lot of contradictions within it, and it just doesn't work," said Hutt.

Hutt isn't the only one concerned about the upcoming GDPR; 87 per cent of UK CIOs are concerned that their organisation might be exposed under the new regulations, according to a report commissioned by Egress Software.

Alpesh Doshi, managing partner at investment and finance boutique Redcliffe Capital, also speaking at the summit, suggested that firms should already have a taskforce committed to ensuring that the firm is prepared for the new EU regulations.

"Fines of up to four per cent of global turnover is giving large organisations incentive to do something about it, and if you're not then I would say get a taskforce ready and make that change happen," he said.