Despite the fact that European data protection laws safeguarding personal data data have been in place for over four years, the ambiguity of official advice means that businesses and consumers still do not fully grasp how to comply with them.

On 10 October, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), which is in charge of enforcing data privacy legislation in the EU, approved a GDPR certification system - namely Europrivacy.

This new certification mechanism makes it easier for citizens and corporations to understand how to comply with data privacy requirements, and to avoid fines and other penalties.

Read more about this story on the European Commission website.

What Is Europrivacy Certification Mechanism?

Europrivacy is the first certification mechanism that businesses can use to demonstrate adherence to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - a significant step forward in ensuring compliance with the European Union's ground-breaking privacy protection framework.

The certification scheme can help organizations and services improve the perceived value and reliability of their offerings. With Europrivacy, they can:

• Evaluate the conformity of their data processing activities
• Pick data processors
• Assess the suitability of international data transfers
• Guarantee citizens and clients that their personal data is being processed appropriately

What Are the Advantages of Europrivacy Certification?

Europrivacy is more than a certification - it prioritizes compliance over competitive advantages. 

• Recognize and mitigate legal and financial risks - organizations can identify compliance issues quickly, resolve them appropriately, and address risks as effectively and efficiently as possible - reducing the financial impact of GDPR implementation and the risk of sanctions
• Improve reputation and market accessibility - you can give your company a significant edge over businesses that aren't certified, and can increase due diligence requirements by asking service providers to be GDPR-certified for their processing operations
• Increase trust and confidence - with this certification, you’ll be able to build transparency and gain trust over businesses or individuals that are considering passing over their personal data
• Assurance regarding the transfer of data to third-party countries - Europrivacy helps you gain additional comfort when sharing personal data outside the EEA

To Whom Does Europrivacy Apply?

The certification scheme was created by researchers as part of Europe's Horizon 2020 research program. It resulted in a set of characteristics that highlight the company's innovative nature, namely:

• It applies to a wide range of data processing activities while taking sector-specific obligations and risks into account
• It applies to emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, blockchain, self-driving cars, smart cities, and so forth
• It is backed up by a Ledger (Blockchain)-based certificate registry for authenticating delivered certificates and preventing forgery
• It uses an innovative criteria format that is both human and machine-readable, and auditors will find it simple to use and integrate into software, applications, and tools

Customer retention is an important component of any business strategy. 

Personal data is used by businesses across all industries to improve communication and customer relationships. The need to protect personal data prompted the European Union to implement GDPR, which then required the need for a certification mechanism that represents compliance with GDPR.

TWIPLA is a GDPR-compliant website intelligence platform. Privacy by design ensures that it meets the requirements of this strict data privacy law, and can be used without creating data privacy compliance work.