Europrivacy Overview

Europrivacy Overview

Since the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), personal data protection compliance has become a central requirement for companies and public administrations active on the territory of the European Union (“EU”) and beyond, where they are processing EU citizens’ data. It entails legal and financial risks that cannot be ignored by data controllers and processors.

Europrivacy is a certification scheme researched and developed through the European Research Programme to assess, document, certify and value compliance with the GDPR and complementary data protection regulations. It is maintained by the European Centre for Certification and Privacy (“ECCP”) in Luxembourg under the supervision of an International Board of Experts in data protection.

Europrivacy has been developed on the basis of ISO/IEC 17065 and Article 42 of the GDPR “for the purpose of demonstrating compliance with this Regulation of processing operations by controllers and processors”. It has also been approved under Article 46 of the GDPR as a tool for international data transfers. 

It is far more than a simple certification scheme. It provides a comprehensive set of online resources and services to effectively implement, enhance and demonstrate data protection compliance. It is supported by a community of qualified partners, an online academy, a community website, and online tools. It presents numerous benefits and advantages.

Since the GDPR came into effect, compliance with personal data protection has become a non-negotiable obligation for all entities operating within the European Union, and beyond, where they are processing EU citizens’ data, carrying significant legal and financial consequences for noncompliance. Europrivacy is a formally recognized certification framework developed under EU research programs to systematically assess, document, and validate adherence to GDPR and related data protection laws through standardized procedures, and to facilitate data transfers.

Maintained by the European Centre for Certification and Privacy in Luxembourg under expert oversight, it offers more than certification—it provides a full ecosystem of online tools, training, and partner networks to sustain long-term compliance.

Scope and Applicability

Purpose: Europrivacy enables assessing, documenting, certifying and valuing compliance with the GDPR and complementary data protection regulations. In particular, it assists businesses and enterprises to:

  1. Reduce legal and financial risks by checking and documenting compliance;
  2. Communicate and value compliance by turning it into an asset and source of value creation;
  3. Enjoy and maintain compliance with the Europrivacy certification and online resources;
  4. Serve as mechanism for international data transfers.

What: Thanks to its hybrid model, Europrivacy is applicable to almost all data processing activities, including to innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, e-health, and Internet of things. There is a number of specific exclusions, such as biomedical data.

While the Europrivacy methodology can be applied to diverse targets of evaluations, under Art. 42 GDPR, only data processing activities can be certified. As a consequence, for EU jurisdictions, it is not possible to certify a whole company at once or even its whole management system under the GDPR. The positive side of this element is that compliance can be progressively certified, starting with priority data processing activities and extending the certification step by step to more data processing.

Who: Europrivacy is applicable to both data controllers and data processors.

Where: Europrivacy can be used in any place to assess compliance with the GDPR. However, the deliverance of certificates may be restricted in jurisdictions whose regulations undermine the rights and freedoms of data subjects. 

Extendibility: Europrivacy has been developed and designed to be easily extendable to complementary national data protection regulations, including non-EU regulations, as well as to domain and technology-specific regulations.

Validity: Certificates are valid for renewable periods of three years.

 

Certification Process

The certification procedure can be divided into the following major steps:

  1. Check and Document your compliance to reduce risk with the support of the Europrivacy Welcome Pack of resources and tools and qualified partners to reduce your risks. You can also use criteria Extensions to certify compliance with additional EU or national regulations. 
  2. Certify your compliance to Create Value with a qualified Certification Body to value and communicate your compliance efforts. The certification body must be authorized by ECCP and have a valid accreditation with a competent national authority. The certificate is published on the official Europrivacy Registry of Certificates to enable its authentication by third party and to prevent forgery. 
  3. Enjoy and Maintain your compliance thanks to  online resources and tools, including communication guidelines and templates, continuous updates on compliance requirements, and yearly surveillance audits.