European Centre for Certification and Privacy: Europrivacy - The GDPR European Data Protection Seal Approved by the EU, a New Era for Privacy and Data Protection Compliance

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LUXEMBOURG, Oct. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) approved Europrivacy as European Data Protection Seal for certification under art. 42 (5) GDPR. Europrivacy enables companies to assess and formally certify their data processing compliance. Europrivacy certificates will be formally recognised in all E.U. Member States and will be taken into account by data protection supervisory authorities in case of litigation.

Europrivacy is an innovative methodology and certification scheme developed through the European research programme to simplify, enhance, and certify compliance with privacy regulations. It covers the GDPR requirements and is extendable to other non-EU privacy laws. Europrivacy is supervised and continuously updated by an International Board of Experts to address regulatory changes. It is made available for free to selected service providers and is already supported by an ecosystem of qualified law firms, consulting companies, solution providers, and certification bodies, including world leaders in each category (more on https://europrivacy.com).

Europrivacy will start by being applied on the territory of the European Union and will progressively be extended to other countries.

Europrivacy certification enables all stakeholders to identify and select companies that effectively apply personal data protection. It enables companies to identify potential gaps with the regulation and reduce their legal, financial, and reputational risks. They can use it to monitor and document their compliance and to assess third-parties' compliance before transferring data.

Compliance is usually perceived as a burden and a cost by companies. With Europrivacy they can value and communicate their GDPR compliance. It turns compliance into an asset, a source of trust and competitive advantages.

Europrivacy's mission is to make data protection compliance more effective, efficient, and enjoyable. DPOs and auditors can get qualified on the Europrivacy online academy. They benefit from a variety of online tools and resources, including an online community to collaborate and share knowledge with other experts.

Europrivacy was researched and developed through the European research programme. It brings a whole set of innovations to support GDPR compliance and certification: 

• A hybrid certification scheme, applicable to all sorts of data processing activities, while addressing domain and technology-specific obligations and risks for the data subjects.  
• Applicable to emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and Blockchain.  
• Extendable to complementary national obligations, including non-EU regulations.  
• A ledger-based registry of certificates for authenticating certificates and  preventing forgery. 
• Innovative criteria format that is both human and machine-readable. 

Dr Sébastien Ziegler, President of Europrivacy International Board of Experts: "Europrivacy's ambition is to build trust and confidence in data protection, and to make data protection compliance as easy and natural as breathing air."  

David Mudd, Global Head of Digital Trust Assurance at BSI: "With the amount of our working and social life that we conduct digitally growing exponentially and globally across society, data privacy has never been more important than it is today. The work Europrivacy has done in shaping a flexible yet robust certification scheme for Data Privacy is a key milestone in building consumer trust." 

Luca Bolognini, President of the Italian Institute of Privacy, Rome, Italy: "Europrivacy has brought together some of the most seasoned European experts in data protection, cybersecurity and certification in order to deliver an efficient and comprehensive certification scheme that fully covers complex obligations." 

• Europrivacy website: www.europrivacy.org  and https://europrivacy.info 
• European Data Protection Board: https://edpb.europa.eu 
• EDPB Opinion: https://edpb.europa.eu/system/files/2022-10/edpb_opinion_202228_approval_of_europrivacy_certification_criteria_as_eu_data_protection_seal_en.pdf