Privacy Policy Guide for Small Businesses

Different privacy laws from across the world require businesses of all different sizes to inform individuals about how their personal information is collected, processed, and stored, among other things. As a result, privacy policies, or privacy notices, are ubiquitous across the internet and can be found in the footer of many websites or within cookie banners.

The specific information that the privacy policy should contain is dependent on the data privacy regulation that applies to your organization’s personal information processing activities. Typically, privacy policies should include such information as:

• Information about your organization
• How you use personal information
• What privacy rights the individual has and how they can be exercised
• How complaints can be made
• Your organization’s contact details

Developing a public-facing privacy policy can be a daunting, but necessary, prospect for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) who often have limited resources, especially when it comes to running a compliant privacy program.

This template aims to guide SMBs through the foundational components that need to be considered when writing a privacy policy as well as notes specific to privacy laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).