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What does it mean when compliance platforms share data with each other?

An explanation of what data sharing between compliance platforms actually entails: what is exchanged, who gives permission for it, and why it never happens automatically.

Data sharing between compliance platforms means that one platform may read data that you have entered at another platform, so you don't have to enter it twice. It is usually company data such as your Chamber of Commerce number, address, sector and product information: things that are needed in multiple places, but which in themselves say nothing about whether you comply with a specific regulation.

The key point that matters in this subject is that data sharing never automatically means "everything with everything". It is a targeted connection between two specific systems, based on permission that you give yourself and that you can also withdraw again. Without that permission, each platform remains standalone, even if they fall under the same umbrella.

What exactly is being shared

With most compliance platforms, it is the company and product dossier: the basic data needed to know who and what product it concerns. Think of company name, Chamber of Commerce and VAT number, registered address, the countries where you operate and a description of your products or services. That is very different from the substantive assessment that a platform then makes itself, for example whether a product meets a standard. That assessment belongs to the platform that produced it and is not simply copied to another system.

Whether a particular piece of data is shared or not differs per connection and per platform. Some platforms only need the basic data, others also part of the product dossier. Which data exactly that is for your situation is best to ask the platform itself or read in the terms and conditions that go with it.

Why technology is not the core

It is tempting to see data sharing as a technical question: two systems that can talk to each other. But the technology is the easy part. The core is the permission that precedes it. A connection between platform A and platform B only becomes active after you, as someone authorised within your company, have explicitly agreed to it. That permission is also per connection: agreeing to one connection does not mean another automatically follows.

That distinction is important because it determines who is responsible for what. The platform receiving data may only use it for the purpose you have given permission for. What that means in practice for your company, and what agreements go with it, is best read on the page that explains what does and does not happen with your data.

Personal data is a separate category

Within company data there is sometimes also a layer of personal data, such as the name and contact details of an employee who has been designated as a contact point. Whether and how that data may be shared between systems is subject to the rules around personal data and the way your organisation must handle it. That is a substantive question that belongs with a lawyer or the Data Protection Authority, not with an umbrella that brings platforms together. Reglia itself therefore makes no substantive statement on this.

What reglia does do is make visible which connection exists and what data belongs to it, so you don't have to guess what is known somewhere about your company. How that overview is constructed and what is recorded is described on the page about how your data is handled.

Check for yourself what applies to you

Whether a connection between two platforms for your business makes sense depends on which platforms you use and which data overlaps between them. An installation company that only deals with product safety has little use for a connection intended for packaging. A web shop with own-brand products that supplies multiple countries benefits from multiple connections at the same time, because the same business data is then needed in multiple places.

If you are unsure whether a connection is useful for your situation, or which data is involved, the answer is often specific to your business. General questions about how connections work are collected at the frequently asked questions page.

If you want to see which platforms are available and what data plays a role with each, you can safely view that via the overview of connected platforms.

This article is general information and not legal advice.