What is a Data Protection Impact Assessment? What are the Essential Stages to a Data Protection Impact Assessment?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) explicitly states that any data processing activity that poses a high risk to the data subject’s rights and freedoms must undergo a Data Protection Impact Assessment in Netherland. It is one of the most important and particular processes prescribed by the Regulation for determining the risk of sensitive data exposure. The Assessment determines the level of risk associated with data processing operations that may have an impact on data subjects. The assessment aids in identifying and resolving concerns within the early stages of any project, lowering associated costs and minimising commercial damage.

What is a data Protection impact assessment? What are the essential stages to a data protection impact assessment?

When businesses implement new data processing methods and technologies, it considers the privacy-by-design approach. Failure to undertake a DPIA can result in GDPR non-compliance as well as the risk of a data breach. Furthermore, administrative fines of up to 2% of your company’s annual global turnover, or €10 million, whichever is greater, may be imposed. As a result, the organisation must conduct DPIA on a yearly basis. We’ve expanded on this by sharing some of the main processes for doing DPIA activities today. This can be used as a checklist for businesses like yours who want to learn more about the DPIA process flow. But first, let’s have a better understanding of what DPIA stands for.

What is the purpose of a Data Protection Impact Assessment Netherland (DPIA)?

According to Article 35 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), data protection impact assessments, also known as privacy impact assessments, are an obligatory duty for enterprises to comply with. Data controllers or processors adopting new technology or systems, or launching a new service that processes data that may effect data subjects’ rights and freedoms, must do a thorough assessment of the impact, according to the article.

When introducing a new product or service that involves data processing, this procedure is critical to ensuring that firms adopt a privacy-by-design approach and take steps to mitigate associated risks. The evaluation is the cornerstone of a company’s data security strategy. The framework assists in reducing the potential risks associated with data processing and bringing them to an acceptable level of risk. The steps involved in a Data Protection Impact Evaluation are listed below, and you should be aware of them before completing the assessment.

How do you conduct a data privacy impact assessment?

Data Protection Impact Assessment: Key Stages

Because there is no standard methodology or rigid template to follow, completing a Data Protection Impact Assessment is not difficult. A proper DPIA is any review procedure that identifies risks and is backed up by documentation. To better comprehend the DPIA process, let’s take a closer look at the procedures involved.

Step 1: Determine the need for a DPIA.

Companies must first establish whether they are obligated to complete a Data Protection Impact Assessment. It is advised that the organisation engage with a Data Protection Officer to determine whether the data processing falls under the category of processing that requires a DPIA without exception. You can check this on their official website to discover if your data processing necessitates an impact assessment.

Step 2: Explain how the data was processed.

The company will need to document the processing of the data in detail. This would comprise details such as the type, purpose, and extent of data processing, as well as the context in which the data is processed.

Step 3: Think about consulting.

While the rule does not specify this, we highly advise enterprises to seek legal guidance or engage with independent IT professionals or compliance consultants regarding the DPIA evaluation and related General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) obligations. It is also vital for the organisation to consult with all key internal stakeholders, particularly anyone with information security responsibilities.

Step 4: Determine the Need and Proportionality

Organizations should determine whether data processing is required for the planned work to be completed, and this must be supported with sufficient evidence. Organizations will be required to prove and document evidence such as –

The processing of data has a legal basis.

Efforts have been made to prevent function creep.

Measures taken to ensure that data is of high quality.

Processes in place to guarantee that data is kept to a minimum.

Processes in place to provide persons with personal information.

Processes that are in place to implement and support people’s rights.

Measures have been put in place to ensure that your processors follow the rules.

International data transmissions are protected by safeguards.

Step 5: Recognize and Assess Risk

Organizations must undertake proper risk assessments to detect risk exposure that may jeopardise the data subject’s rights and freedom. They must also consider the potential harm or damage that could result from a loss of control over the use of personal data, discrimination, identity theft or fraud, reputational damage, financial loss, physical harm, loss of confidentiality, re-identification of pseudonymized data, or any other significant economic or social disadvantage. Organizations must analyse the possible impact of risk by evaluating and identifying the source of risk. In determining the source, kind, severity, and impact of risk, the evaluation should be objective.

Step 6: Identify Risk Mitigation Measures

Organizations must attempt to mitigate risks once they have been recognised and assessed depending on their severity. This can be accomplished by restricting data collection, limiting the scope of processing, reducing the retention period, implementing additional security measures, training staff, anonymizing or pseudonymizing data where possible, putting in place policies, procedures, processes, data-sharing agreements, allowing individuals to opt-out where appropriate, and implementing new systems to assist individuals in exercising their rights. Organizations must also work with the designated DPO to determine how to mitigate risk and validate that the procedures in place are adequate.

Step 7: Sign off and keep track of DPIA results.

Instead of being viewed as a compliance activity, Data Protection Impact Assessment should be viewed as a chance to improve operations. The results of the DPIA should be documented and incorporated into the project to resolve difficulties and assure compliance. The following information must be included in the DPIA report:

A thorough summary of the project’s goals and objectives.

The goal and scope of the data processing evaluation.

Data protection and customer privacy risks are assessed.

Defining measures to reduce risks and adhere to GDPR regulations.

Although it is not required by law to publish DPIAs, it is considered best practise to do so in whole or in part. This increases confidence in the organization’s processes while also demonstrating accountability and transparency to all stakeholders. The organisation must, however, acquire clearance from the parties involved, such as the Data Protection Officer or members of the management team, as well as supervisory bodies such as the Data Protection Commission.

Conclusion

GDPR compliance is a continuous process, therefore enterprises will need to refer to the DPIA on a regular basis to integrate the results of the assessment and ensure that the procedures put in place as a result of the assessment are properly executed. Organizations must also check to see if the risk-mitigation procedures have been executed correctly. Individuals and other stakeholders should be consulted as needed during this process. Organizations must recognise, however, that the DPIA process is flexible and scalable, and can be tailored to match the needs of the business in terms of its existing risk and project management strategy as long as the major challenges and features are addressed. As a result, we strongly advise consulting stakeholders and DPOs when it comes to putting in place steps to address the issues found in the DPIA evaluation.

Infinity Legal Solutions is one of the best law firms in Netherlands that offering legal and compliance matters related services to its clients. Contact us for free legal advice or consultation today!