"Businesses are definitely taking note, said Omer Tene, vice president of research and education at the nonprofit International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), which is based in New Hampshire.
During the next two years, "Businesses should use that to adapt their systems and their practices to some of the new rules," Tene said. There will be approved transfer mechanisms for personal data, he said.
"Being upset is not relevant here. Europe is a huge trading block, it has 500 million citizens, and it's a bigger economy than the United States. We have to live with their laws," Tene said. "It an investment, and businesses will have to work and comply with it. It is definitely a big compliance undertaking. There will be a lot of hours invested.""