The European Union has overhauled its digital privacy laws through an updated General Data Protection Regulation. The GDPR takes effect today and protects individuals in the EU regardless if their information is processed elsewhere. It allows citizens more power and control over their data. Many companies --big and small -- are still in a race against the clock to ensure compliance. Mariam Zaidi has more from Brussels. 

A melee of business leaders and innovators gather to talk shop. Amongst the crowd is Johannes. His company makes drones that film in 360 degrees and have 3D environment scanning.

Johannes Crilly, Spherie VR Drone "We're based in Hamburg, so we work a lot with shipping companies right now. Big shipping container ships, freighters, it's really hard for people to access that especially at high seas as there's a lot of risk involved and regulations. SO for companies like that to give their clients, investors ability, more insight into what they're doing, products their offering." But staying connected to clients and expanding their network proved more taxing.

Johannes Crilly, Spherie VR Drone "At the beginning, we started off with a newsletter service. In the end, we realized there's a lot of red tape involved, legal aspects to consider and if you're a small group, in a start-up, it's hard to stay on top of that kind of thing. In the end, we decided against a newsletter service and said we'll use social media more actively as all that red tape is covered by using Facebook, using Linkedin."

Johannes may have found a unique solution but for many companies, there is pressure to plug any potential breaches in the way they store and use personal data. Industry representatives are calling on the EU to give small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, a grace period to get their affairs in order. Under the new rules, individuals can access all data being held on them, object to the processing of that data and force companies to erase it all. Non-compliance will result in hefty fines. Up to 4% of yearly turnover.

Katarzyna SZYMEIELEWICWZ, European Digital Rights advocacy group "This is going to bring important, significant improvement, especially in the context of online services, and the advertising ecosystem that developed in a very non-transparent way, as we have seen with the Facebook case and many similar cases, there are serious also political concerns around how this industry evolves. So now citizens will have a good chance of discovering how their data is collected by all those third parties hidden in the shadows."

Mariam Zaidi, Brussels "On Friday, the EU will roll out their data protection legislation with much fanfare. Whether it proves good for the consumer or bad for business innovation, only time will tell. Mariam Zaidi, CGTN Brussels."