EDPB addresses Privacy by Design and Default in 40th Plenary Session

26. October 2020

Following public consultation, the Europan Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted a final version of the Guidelines on Data Protection by Design & Default during its 40th plenary session on October 20th, 2020.

The Guidelines’ focal point is the obligation of Data Protection by Design and by Default as set forth in Article 25 GDPR. At its core is the effective implementation of the data protection principles and data subjects’ rights and freedoms by design and by default, which means that controllers are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures as well as the necessary safeguards, designed to establish data protection principles in practice and to protect the rights and freedoms of data subjects while processing their personal data.

The Guidelines further contain guidance on how to effectively implement the data protection principles in Article 5 GDPR, listing key design and default points, as well as giving examples through practical cases. They also provide recommendations for controllers on how to achieve Privacy by Design and Default.

However, this is not the only decision made by the EDPB during the plenary. The EDPB decided to set up a Coordinated Enforcement Framework (CEF), which provides a structure for coordinating recurring annual activities by EDPB Supervisory Authorities. The objective is to coordinate joint activities, which may range from joint awareness raising and information gathering to enforcement sweeps and joint investigations.

The EDPB hopes that this raises awareness, as well as give data subjects more confidence to excercise their rights under the GDPR.