GDPR and Your Website: A Simple Checklist for Malta Businesses
If your business website collects names, emails or tracks visitors, GDPR applies. You don’t need to be a lawyer to cover the basics. This checklist covers the website side for small businesses in Malta.
Who checks this in Malta?
The Information and Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC) is Malta’s data protection authority. Cookie rules come from the EU ePrivacy rules, which Malta applies through Subsidiary Legislation 586.01, and the IDPC has published guidance on cookie consent.
1. Host inside the EU
When your website and email are hosted in the EU, your customers’ data stays under GDPR protection, and you avoid extra paperwork for transfers outside the EU. Ask your host where its servers are.
2. Use HTTPS everywhere
An SSL certificate encrypts everything visitors send you, including contact forms and logins. It should be free with your hosting.
3. Ask before non-essential cookies
Analytics, advertising and social media cookies need the visitor’s consent before they are set. A proper cookie banner:
- blocks those cookies until the visitor agrees
- makes rejecting as easy as accepting
- lets visitors change their choice later
4. Publish a privacy policy
Explain who you are, what data you collect, why, how long you keep it and how people can ask for a copy or deletion. Link to it from every page, usually in the footer.
5. Keep contact forms lean
Only ask for what you need. Add a short note next to the form explaining how you’ll use the details, with a link to your privacy policy. Don’t add people to a newsletter unless they tick a box to agree.
6. Protect your admin and email
Use strong, unique passwords, keep WordPress and plugins updated, and set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC on your domain so nobody can easily send emails pretending to be you.
7. Keep backups, and know how to restore them
GDPR expects you to be able to restore data after an incident. Automatic backups that you have actually tested are the simplest way.
This checklist is general information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, check the IDPC’s guidance or speak to a data protection professional.
All BullHost plans run on EU servers in Germany, with free SSL and automatic backups. See web hosting in Malta.