On 17 November, Alain Hermann, Commissioner at the CNPD, attended the second day of conference of the IAPP Europe Data Protection Congress 2022 in Brussels. The IAPP or International Association of Privacy Professionals is a not-for-profit organisation for privacy professionals around the world.
Mister Herrmann was one of the speakers moderating a panel entitled “First EU GDPR Certification: Time (& Journey) to Move Forward!”. He was joined by Louis-Marie Guérif, a Data Protection Officer and Digital Sobriety Specialist, Fabrice Naftalski, Global Head of Data Protection at EY Société D'Avocats, and Sébastien Ziegler, Chairman of the European Center for Certification and Privacy.
The panel discussed the Europrivacy certification criteria, which were approved as the first “European Data Protection Seal” (pursuant to Art. 42 (5) GDPR) by the EDPB in October 2022. The CNPD had been the competent supervisory authority submitting Europrivacy for approval.
The panelists elaborated on the operational impact, consequences and benefits of the certification for data controllers and data processors. They gave an insight into their own experience with the certification and expounded its advantages, especially in the eyes of supervisory authorities, judges and markets at large (including public and private donors).
Processors learned about the necessary steps to become certified, including the timeline, deliverables, scope, target of evaluation and contributors. They gained an understanding of the roles and tasks of involved stakeholders, namely the European Centre for Certification and Privacy, supporting partners, and the certification and accreditation bodies.