European Centre for Certification and Privacy

Learn more about #GDPR #certification at the Privacy Symposium in Venice 🔐 The European Centre for Certification and Privacy (ECCP) and Europrivacy are proud to support the organization of the Privacy Symposium conference in Venice to promote international dialogue, cooperation, and knowledge-sharing on data regulation, compliance, and innovative technologies, including of course AI regulations. From June 10 to 14, the Privacy Symposium will offer over 140 sessions with more than 300 speakers, including top-level authorities and experts. It is an outstanding opportunity to: • Engage with top-level experts and authorities; • Discover and anticipate upcoming regulatory changes at European and international levels; • Sharpen your skills with deep dive-in sessions and guidance from senior experts and authorities; • Access latest innovations in data protection; • Participate in international cooperation for privacy and data protection. The conference is also an opportunity to learn about GDPR certification and #Europrivacy, the official European Data Protection Seal for #GDPR approved by the European Data Protection Board. It will include several sessions related to certification such as: • Lessons Learned on Privacy Certification • European Data Protection Seal: First achievements and perspectives • International Data Protection Certification: Challenges and Opportunities • Making Compliance and Accountability Enjoyable • GDPR, CBPR, and CoE Convergence on Certification • Certifying Data Protection Compliance in Practice • International Data Protection Certification: Building Trust in Compliance Beyond Borders • Comparing Appropriate Safeguards Mechanisms: Certification, SCC, BCR, and CC • International Recognition of Data Protection Certification • Transfer Impact Assessment in Practice More ℹ️ and registration: Privacy Symposium: https://lnkd.in/eFcx5zSe Europrivacy, the European Data Protection Seal: https://europrivacy.com 👉 Follow Privacy Symposium in English: https://lnkd.in/e_2b-hAt 👉 Follow Privacy Symposium in Italian: https://lnkd.in/dUGefumQ

New Europrivacy training programme now available online in the Europrivacy Online Academy. The new edition of the academy addresses received comments and latest changes in the Europrivacy specifications. It brings several important enhancements:  1️⃣ Clearer, simplified content, better tailored to the needs of those in charge of implementation and assessment activities;  2️⃣ Inclusive design with clearer visual and auditive elements and closed captioning;  3️⃣ Transcripts and transcript search available for every video.    The Academy is particularly relevant for DPOs, legal experts, implementers, and auditors.  It is the only official platform that enables to become a qualified Europrivacy implementer or auditor. Upon completion of the implementer and auditor courses, you will be invited to pass an online exam. If you successfully pass this exam, you will be awarded a personal certificate. Such qualification is required and mandatory to serve as Europrivacy implementer or auditor.  All current users can access the updated courses. For those who have already completed their training courses, their qualification remains valid, but will be requested to watch a dedicated video module that will describe the main changes from the previous version of the scheme.  Europrivacy enables #datacontrollers and #dataprocessors to:  ✔️ Check and document #GDPR compliance  ✔️ Reduce legal and financial #risks  ✔️ Certify, value, and enjoy #compliance Europrivacy certification is transforming compliance costs into an intangible asset and source of value creation:  ▶ to build trust with your clients and B2B partners;  ▶ to serve as a competitive advantage for your sales and marketing teams;  ▶ to communicate with shareholders and financial analysts.    Building trust and confidence! 🌐 Visit www.europrivacy.com   🎓 Europrivacy Online Academy: https://lnkd.in/eS_yZErZ   🗨 Europrivacy Community and Resources website: https://lnkd.in/eBZKMAuX  Stay updated by following us:   ➡ Europrivacy: ️https://lnkd.in/eKmfUawA  ➡ ECCP: https://lnkd.in/euWCDsxP 

How to turn #GDPR #compliance into a smooth and rewarding process? While non-compliance can get a high visibility, the effort of compliance is often invisible and perceived as a cost by data controllers and processors. The European Data Protection Seal, Europrivacy, provides a comprehensive methodology to facilitate and value GDPR compliance in a smooth, efficient, and rewarding manner. It's simple: 1️⃣ To start with, you can access a whole set of online resources to use Europrivacy, including the Europrivacy Academy, the Europrivacy Community and Resources Website, and a Welcome Pack of services. Through the main website, you can access a large ecosystem of official partners, including global consulting and law firms, solution providers, and certification bodies who are ready to onboard you in a first-class journey to compliance and certification. 2️⃣ You select priority #data processing activities and start documenting their compliance with the officially recognized criteria. It enables you to identify and address potential residual non-compliances and it generates a well-structured documentation of compliance in case of control. By doing so, you reduce #risks for data subjects and for your own organisation, including legal, financial and reputational risks. It reinforces your accountability. You can even use the official criteria to structure and homogenize your compliance management without necessarily aiming at #certification. 3️⃣ Once the documentation is completed, you choose a qualified certification body to certify the compliance of your data processing. It enables you to build trust and confidence, and values compliance by turning it into an asset, a potential competitive advantage and a source of revenue for companies. It recognizes the compliance efforts achieved and enables you to communicate it. Your #datasubjects will know that your certified data processing activities have been impartially audited and will be regularly checked to maintain trust. 4️⃣ Finally, you take advantage of the #Europrivacy online resources and community to continue enhancing and enjoying compliance. Independently of the above, you can also reduce your surface of risks at no cost by requesting your processors to certify their services with the European Data Protection Seal, in line with Art. 28(5) GDPR. Our ambition is to bring research and innovation to the service of data protection and compliance, and to make #GDPRcompliance more efficient, reliable, and enjoyable. Building trust and compliance for all.  🌐 Visit www.europrivacy.com 🔈 Don’t miss our next public webinar on March 20 at 16:00 CET to learn more: https://lnkd.in/dcjKk4e8  🎓 Europrivacy Online Academy: https://lnkd.in/eS_yZErZ   🗨 Europrivacy Community and Resources website: https://lnkd.in/eBZKMAuX Stay updated by following us:   ➡ Europrivacy: ️https://lnkd.in/eKmfUawA  ➡ ECCP: https://lnkd.in/euWCDsxP

🎉 Thank you for your support and congratulation messages! 🎉     The European Centre for Certification and Privacy (#ECCP) thanks you all for your support, encouragements and congratulation messages to celebrate the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) decision opening the Europrivacy accreditation under Art. 43 GDPR at European level. It complements the official endorsement by the European Data Protection Board of Europrivacy criteria under Art. 42 GDPR to serve as European Data Protection Seal, and enables the first wave of European Data Protection Seals to be delivered across Europe.      ECCP ambitions to bring research and innovation to the service of data protection and compliance. We are particularly thankful to the European research programme, as well as to the researchers and experts who have contributed to the development of #Europrivacy, including the members of the Europrivacy International Board of Experts.    We are grateful to have the support of an international ecosystem of qualified partners, including world leaders among consulting and law firms, solution providers, and certification bodies to support those interested in #Europrivacy. This international community of experts is ready to deliver high-quality services, #compliance assessments, and #certifications.    Last but not least, we extend our gratitude to the #EA, #EDPD, Accredia, The Italian Data Protection Authority Garante della protezione dei dati personali (GPDP), CNPD - Commission nationale pour la protection des données, and Commissioner Alain Herrmann for their trust and guidance through our journey.     Building trust and confidence!  🌐 Visit www.europrivacy.com  🔈 Don’t miss our next public webinar on March 20 at 16:00 CET to learn more: https://lnkd.in/dcjKk4e8  🎓 Europrivacy Online Academy: https://lnkd.in/eS_yZErZ   🗨 Europrivacy Community and Resources website: https://lnkd.in/eBZKMAuX  Stay updated by following us:   ➡ Europrivacy: ️https://lnkd.in/eKmfUawA  ➡ ECCP: https://lnkd.in/euWCDsxP 

We are proud to announce the release of the revised version of #Europrivacy certification scheme general specification and requirements! This new version takes into account the comments and feedback received from our partners and supervisory authorities. It brings several important enhancements to make the process of #GDPR compliance assessment and certification more efficient and enjoyable, including: 1️⃣ Reorganising the document structure in four parts to make it more user-friendly; 2️⃣ Inclusion of new definitions; 3️⃣ Text improvements and shortening by eliminating duplicated information; 4️⃣ Simplifying some processes; 5️⃣ Refocusing the document on regular data processing certification; 6️⃣ Adapting the scheme to non-EEA certification requirements specified by EDPB; 7️⃣ Complementary specifications of testing procedure, sampling, multi-site assessment, use of suggested means of evaluation, handling of minor non-conformities, and transfer of certificates; 8️⃣ Revised specification of certification bodies licensing and accreditation. The new version of the scheme, as well as a description of the changes made since the last official version, are available in the Europrivacy resources and community website:  https://lnkd.in/eBZKMAuX Europrivacy enables #datacontrollers and #dataprocessors to:  ✔️ Reduce risks, by checking and documenting their compliance, and by using certified service providers;   ✔️ Value compliance by certifying and communicating it;   ✔️ Enjoy and enhance their #compliance with online resources and tools.  Europrivacy certification is transforming compliance costs into a intangible asset and source of value creation:  ▶ to build trust with your clients and B2B partners;  ▶ to serve as a competitive advantage for your sales and marketing teams;  ▶ to communicate with shareholders and financial analysts. Building trust and confidence! 🔈 Don’t miss our next public webinar on March 20 at 16:00 CET to learn more: https://lnkd.in/dcjKk4e8  🌐 Visit www.europrivacy.com   🎓 Europrivacy Online Academy: https://lnkd.in/eS_yZErZ   🗨 Europrivacy Community and Resources website: https://lnkd.in/eBZKMAuX  Stay updated by following us:   ➡ Europrivacy: ️https://lnkd.in/eKmfUawA  ➡ ECCP: https://lnkd.in/euWCDsxP 

Europrivacy - A new wave is coming. We are excited and delighted to inform you that following the EA decision, several certification bodies are completing their accreditation procedure for Europrivacy under Art. 43 GDPR. Our official partners are already engaged by clients to start delivering the first wave of official European Data Protection Seals.  #Europrivacy criteria have been officially approved by the European Data Protection Board to serve as official European Data Protection Seal under the GDPR. It is the only official GDPR certification scheme whose criteria are officially recognised by all EU and EEA jurisdictions. Europrivacy enables #datacontrollers and #dataprocessors to: ✔️ Check and document #GDPR compliance; ✔️ Reduce legal, financial, and reputational #risks; ✔️ Certify, value, and enjoy #compliance. While it is easy to claim and assume GDPR compliance, certification ensures that personal data are effectively processed in compliance with the GDPR, thanks to regular controls performed by independent and qualified auditors. Certification constitutes a unique instrument to ensure that data subjects' rights are effectively respected and implemented.  Delivered European Data Protection Seals will be formally recognised in all EU and EEA Member States (30 countries) and will be taken into account by data protection supervisory authorities in case of litigation. It will increase trust in the certified data processing.  Last but not least, Europrivacy certification is transforming compliance costs into a intangible asset and source of value creation:  ▶ to build trust with your clients and B2B partners;  ▶ to serve as a competitive advantage for your sales and marketing teams;  ▶ to communicate with shareholders and financial analysts. Certification will better value the work of DPOs and should help them receive more resources to invest in compliance. Europrivacy will also enable data controllers to select certified services of data processors to reduce their surface of risks at no cost. Our ambition is to bring research and innovation to the service of data protection by making compliance more efficient, valuable, and enjoyable. More to come. Building trust and confidence! 🔈 Don’t miss our next public webinar on March 20 at 16:00 CET to learn more: https://lnkd.in/dcjKk4e8 🌐 Visit www.europrivacy.com   🎓 Europrivacy Online Academy: https://lnkd.in/eS_yZErZ   🗨 Europrivacy Community and Resources website: https://lnkd.in/eBZKMAuX  Stay updated by following us:   ➡ Europrivacy: ️https://lnkd.in/eKmfUawA  ➡ ECCP: https://lnkd.in/euWCDsxP 

Europrivacy suitability for European accreditation approved by the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA). The EA decision enables certification bodies to complete their accreditation under Art. 43 GDPR in all EU/EEA jurisdictions and start delivering European Data Protection Seals under GDPR Art. 42. The European General Data Protection Regulation (#GDPR) encourages the use of certification to demonstrate compliance with the regulation. Such certifications must satisfy two conditions. It must: 1.   use the criteria approved by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB); 2.   be delivered by a certification body accredited under Art. 43 GDPR. #Europrivacy criteria have been officially approved by EDPB in October 2022 to serve as European Data Protection Seal under the GDPR. It is the only official GDPR certification scheme whose criteria are officially recognised by all EU and EEA jurisdictions. Since then, many companies and organisations have started using these criteria to assess and document compliance of their data processing with the GDPR. In February 2023, the Italian accreditation authority Accredia developed the first Art. 43 GDPR accreditation procedure for Europrivacy, in accordance with the requirements established by the Italian Supervisory Authority. ACCREDIA then brought its procedure to the EA in order for other national accreditation bodies to take advantage of the Italian effort. EA has now completed its assessment and validated the suitability of Europrivacy conformity assessment schemes for accreditation purposes at European level. Thanks to EA and ACCREDIA, certification bodies can now request their accreditation across all EU/EEA jurisdictions in Europe to start delivering official European Data Protection Seals. Europrivacy enables #datacontrollers and #dataprocessors to: ✔️ Reduce risks, by checking and documenting their compliance, and by using certified service providers;  ✔️ Value compliance by certifying and communicating it;  ✔️ Enjoy and enhance their #compliance with online resources and tools. Our ambition is to bring research and innovation to the service of data protection by making compliance more efficient, valuable, and enjoyable. Building trust and confidence!   🔈 Don’t miss our next public Europrivacy webinar on March 20 at 16:00 CET to learn more: https://lnkd.in/dcjKk4e8 🌐 Visit www.europrivacy.com 🎓 Europrivacy Online Academy: https://lnkd.in/eS_yZErZ 🗨 Europrivacy Community and Resources website: https://lnkd.in/eBZKMAuX Stay updated by following us: ➡ Europrivacy: ️https://lnkd.in/eKmfUawA ➡ ECCP: https://lnkd.in/euWCDsxP

The European Centre for Certification and Privacy and Europrivacy are delighted to support the organisation of the next international Privacy Symposium conference. 📍 Save the date: June 10 to 14, 2024 in Venice, Italy Privacy Symposium aims to promote international dialogue, cooperation, and knowledge-sharing on data protection, regulatory compliance, and innovative technologies. See more below ⤵

5 Years of GDPR fines: main lessons learnt. The European Centre for Certification and Privacy has analysed the evolution of GDPR administrative #fines over the initial 5-year period of #GDPR enforcement. Here are three key takeaways:   1) The grace period of entry into force of the GDPR is gone and fines are likely to become more and more stringent. The average GDPR fines were multiplied by 24 from 2019 to 2023. Fines are likely to come closer to the upper limits set in Art. 83 GDPR: “20 000 000 EUR, or in the case of an undertaking, up to 4 % of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.” Non-complying data controllers and processors are exposing themselves to increasing legal and financial risks.      2) While all GDPR articles must be equally respected, it seems that some articles are more prone to be breached and sanctioned. These articles may require a closer look and care by the DPOs, including:  - The lawfulness of the processing (Art. 6 GDPR)  - The information provided to the data subject (Art. 12 and 13 GDPR)  - The safeguards in place when transferring personal data (Art. 46 GDPR)  - The data protection by design and by default implementation (Art. 25 GDPR)  - The measures to secure and protect the processing (Art. 32 GDPR)    3) Documenting and demonstrating compliance with the GDPR will become increasingly important for both data controllers and processors. Compliance must be effective, and companies should anticipate controls. They should challenge and check their level of compliance before the authorities do.     There are many tools and online resources available that can be used to support compliance, including data protection authorities’ websites, such as the EDPB SME Toolbox: https://lnkd.in/dVpjpSZT. It is also possible to use the official European Data Protection Seals criteria approved by the European Data Protection Board (Europrivacy) to control and document the compliance of data processing activities. It can help identify potential non-conformities and reduce the risk of fines. Moreover, once the compliance of a data processing has been documented, it is ready for certification to value the compliance effort. The full analysis is available on the #Europrivacy Resources and Community website at: https://lnkd.in/eJ6jvGx8 🌐 Visit www.eccpcentre.com and  www.europrivacy.com for more information   🎓 Check out Europrivacy Online Academy: https://lnkd.in/eS_yZErZ   Check out Europrivacy Community and Resources website: https://lnkd.in/eBZKMAuX Follow us:   ➡️ https://lnkd.in/euWCDsxP   ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eKmfUawA  ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eM2kZV4F  

Insight into 5 Years of GDPR fines. The European Centre for Certification and Privacy has analysed the evolution of #GDPR administrative #fines over the initial 5 years period of GDPR enforcement. Here are three key takeaways: a) The grace period of entry into force of the GDPR is over and fines are likely to become more and more stringent. From 2019 to 2023, the average GDPR fines have been multiplied by 24, passing from 413 654 € to 9 961 466 €. Fines are on the way to come closer to the upper limits set in Art. 83 GDPR: “20 000 000 EUR, or in the case of an undertaking, up to 4 % of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.” Non-complying data controllers and processors are exposing themselves to increasing legal and financial risks.    b) While all GDPR articles must be equally respected, some articles are more prone to be breached and sanctioned. These articles may require a closer look and care by the DPOs, including: - The lawfulness of the processing (Art. 6 GDPR) - The information provided to the data subject (Art. 12 and 13 GDPR) - The safeguards in place when transferring personal data (Art. 46 GDPR) - The data protection by design and by default implementation (Art. 25 GDPR) - The measures to secure and protect the processing (Art. 32 GDPR)   c) Documenting and demonstrating compliance with the GDPR will become increasingly important for both data controllers and processors. Compliance must be effective, and companies should anticipate controls. They should challenge and check their level of compliance.   There are many tools and online resources available that can be used to support compliance, including data protection authorities’ websites, such as the EDPB SME Toolbox: https://lnkd.in/dVpjpSZT. A smart option is to use the official European Data Protection Seals criteria approved by #EDPB, Europrivacy, to control and document the compliance of your data processing activities. The #Europrivacy criteria enable you to identify potential non-conformities, to reduce your risks, and to be ready in case of control. Moreover, once a data processing has been documented, it is ready for certification, to value your compliance. You can consult the report on the #Europrivacy Resources and Community website at: https://lnkd.in/eJ6jvGx8   🌐 Europrivacy website https://europrivacy.com 🌐 ECCP website https://eccpcentre.com 🎓 Europrivacy Online Academy https://lnkd.in/eS_yZErZ Europrivacy Community and Resources website https://lnkd.in/eBZKMAuX Follow us: ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eKmfUawA ➡️ https://lnkd.in/euWCDsxP ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eM2kZV4F