Under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), businesses must conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for “high-risk” data processing activities.
In practice, this obligation is easier said than done. And that’s why several regulatory authorities have released GDPR DPIA examples to help businesses jumpstart their own assessments.
This article will shed more light on the GDPR’s requirements for DPIAs and walk you through a real-world DPIA example to help you protect data and achieve compliance seamlessly.
The Captain Compliance Guide will help you understand the requirements for privacy impacts when undertaking new initiatives. If you have any questions you can connect with one of our Chief Privacy Officers who can consult on best practices and procedures.
Key Takeaways
- Under Article 35, the GDPR requires businesses to conduct a DPIA for data processing operations that could pose a high risk to data subjects’ rights and freedoms.
- Thanks to DPIA examples and guidance from bodies like the UK ICO, Canada’s OIPC BC, and the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL), businesses have excellent starting points to launch their own DPIAs.
- When conducting your DPIA, avoid mistakes like neglecting proper documentation, not consulting relevant stakeholders, and forgetting to update your assessments regularly.
DPIA (Data Protection Impact Assessment) Explained
A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) is a vital component of GDPR compliance that mustn’t be overlooked. It comprehensively analyzes how a business’s data processing activities affect consumers’ privacy rights and freedoms.
Similar to a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), a DPIA outlines what your business does with personal data, why you’re doing it, the related threats (if any), and proposed measures to deal with threats.
It also helps achieve several important components of a compliance plan, including:
- Complying with data privacy laws: DPIAs help you comply with data privacy laws like the GDPR, thereby avoiding substantial fines and other legal consequences.
- Identifying risks: A DPIA helps you pinpoint and assess risks involved in your data processing activities. Through effective analysis, you can proactively minimize risks, reduce the chances of data breaches, and avoid reputational damages.
- Enhancing data protection: As an added benefit, a DPIA helps you better understand how personal data flows within your organization. With this insight, you can implement more robust security safeguards to protect personal and sensitive data.
- Establishing stakeholder trust: A DPIA can also help strengthen stakeholder trust. It shows that you prioritize data privacy and are taking concrete steps to adhere to applicable laws.
Scope of Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs)
In general, a DPIA is required when you engage in data processing activities that are likely to result in high risk to consumers. If you plan to carry out several data processing activities with similar high-risk levels, the GDPR allows you to conduct a single assessment for efficiency.
Now, let’s address what typically constitutes high risk according to the GDPR and supplementary guidelines from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
- Systematic Assessment: If you engage in systematic and extensive profiling that impacts individuals, a DPIA is mandatory. This includes activities like targeted marketing or automated decision-making with legal or similar significant effects.
- Large-Scale Processing: DPIAs are necessary for processing activities that involve collecting or managing substantial amounts of personal data.
- Special categories of data: A DPIA is a must when processing sensitive data (e.g., racial/ethnic origin, sexual orientation, biometric/genetic data, etc.) and data relating to criminal convictions/offenses.
- Cross-Border Data Flows: If your data processing involves international data transfers, especially to countries outside the EU/EEA without an adequacy decision, conducting a DPIA is often required.
- Public Surveillance: DPIAs are required for public surveillance (e.g., via CCTV) or other monitoring activities carried out on a large scale.
- New Technologies: Implementing new technologies or methods, such as AI or IoT, that may pose data privacy risks to consumers need a DPIA.
- Minors and Vulnerable Individuals: A DPIA is required if you process the personal data of children or vulnerable data subjects for purposes such as automated decision-making, profiling, targeted marketing, etc.
- Consistent Monitoring: If your data processing operations involve continuous or frequent monitoring of consumers’ behavior (whether online or offline), a DPIA is necessary to assess the ongoing impact on privacy.
In general, the UK ICO recommends conducting a DPIA for any significant business projects that involve personal data (even if it doesn’t fall directly under this list of activities).
Essential Components of A GDPR-Compliant DPIA
Article 35 and Recital 90 of the GDPR outline the key elements a GDPR-compliant DPIA must address.
They include the following:
- A structured account of your data processing operations and the objectives, considering your legitimate interests where relevant
- An evaluation of the need and appropriateness of data processing regarding the specified objectives
- An analysis of possible risks to consumers’ rights and freedoms
- Strategies developed to lessen these risks, including security protocols and instruments to ensure data integrity and demonstrate GDPR compliance
Keep in mind that you must address these elements with due consideration of the rights and valid concerns of consumers and other affected individuals.
GDPR DPIA Example
Several regulatory bodies have provided real-world examples to help businesses launch their DPIAs. While the specific DPIA requirements of each regulatory body vary, they all provide solid foundations for businesses to build on.
That said, the UK ICO’s template is arguably the most straightforward to implement. Let’s break down its 7-step process:
Step 1: Establish the Need for a DPIA
First, you need to understand why a DPIA is necessary for your specific business operation(s). You can do this by comparing your processing activities with the criteria set out in the GDPR to determine if your business must conduct a DPIA.
When drafting this section, you can include relevant links to or details about the business operation to provide a better picture.
Example
Company: XYZ Corporation
Project: Enhanced Customer Profiling for E-commerce Platform
Stage 1: The Need for a DPIA
We’re launching a project to enhance our customer profiling capabilities within our e-commerce platform. Our objective is to provide more personalized shopping experiences for customers by leveraging advanced data analytics.
Specifically, we’ll examine customers’ purchase history, browsing habits, and preferences to tailor product recommendations and marketing communications. We’ll also apply advanced machine learning algorithms to generate customer profiles, segmentations, and preferences.
This project involves processing data like names, email addresses, purchase history, browsing habits, and demographic details on a large scale. And since large-scale systematic monitoring of individuals is considered high risk under the GDPR, a DPIA is necessary.
Step 2: Describe Data Processing Activities
Once you’ve determined the need for a DPIA, you’ll need to provide a detailed description of your data processing activities.
In particular, you must outline:
- The nature of the data processing, including:
- How you will gather, handle, store, and erase data
- The data’s origin within your organization
- The third parties you will share data with
- The scope of data processing including:
- The data type being processed (personal, sensitive, criminal convictions, etc.)
- The amount, collection frequency, and retention period of data
- The location and number of affected consumers
- The context of data processing, including:
- The level of control data subjects have, your relationship with them, and their expectations regarding the data processing
- The presence of minors or vulnerable data subjects, data security concerns, and technology level in the location of processing
- Relevant public concerns and established code of conduct or certifications (if any)
- The purpose of data processing, including:
- The objectives of processing
- The deliberate effect on consumers
- The advantages of processing for you and in general
Note: It’s a best practice to be as specific and thorough as possible here. Incorporating graphs, charts, and other relevant diagrams (where possible).
Example
Stage 2: Description of Processing Nature, Scope, and Context
- Nature of Processing: In this project, we’ll collect data directly from interactions on our e-commerce platform. We’ll use this information to generate customer profiles and segmentations, driving targeted marketing efforts and product recommendations.
We store all customer data in encrypted databases with restricted access to authorized staff only, and deletion will occur after a defined period of inactivity or when customers request it. In addition, no data will be shared with third parties without explicit consent from customers.
- Scope of Processing: We collect and process personal data, including names, email addresses, purchase history, browsing habits, and sensitive information like credit card numbers for payment purposes.
Since we have a substantial customer base, we engage in large-scale processing. We’ll only retain data for a period necessary to achieve project objectives and meet legal requirements. This project affects all registered customers interacting with our e-commerce platform worldwide, as our services are accessible globally.
- Context of Processing: We have a commercial relationship with customers, and they expect personalized services based on their interactions. However, we don’t knowingly process the data of vulnerable data subjects like minors.
Customers can control their data through privacy settings and request data deletion whenever they wish. Lastly, given the current data privacy landscape, public concerns regarding data handling require careful and transparent processing.
- Purpose of processing: Our primary goal is to improve our customer experience by offering personalized experiences when interacting with our platform. The profiling will allow tailored product recommendations to reduce the effort customers need to find desired items. Through relevant offers, customers will likely engage more with our platform, fostering a deeper connection with our brand.
We, in turn, gain increased customer engagement, reduced advertising costs, and ROI maximization by focusing efforts on customers likely to convert. Moreover, providing a personalized shopping experience reflects positively on our brand and builds credibility.
Step 3: Consult with Relevant Stakeholders
If you have a Data Protection Officer (DPO), the GDPR recommends seeking their advice before conducting DPIAs. Their expertise and insights can prove invaluable in ensuring the process runs smoothly.
You should also involve other relevant stakeholders (where necessary), including employees, processors, and data subjects or their representatives.
Example
Stage 3: Consultation with Relevant Stakeholders
We recognize the importance of talking with relevant stakeholders for our customer profiling project. To gather customer views, we’ll create anonymous online surveys that will be sent to a sample of our customers who have opted-in for marketing communications.
We’ll also establish dedicated feedback channels, including email and customer service hotlines, for people to voice their concerns, which we’ll incorporate into our assessment.
Our DPO will play a pivotal role in the consultation process, ensuring that all aspects of the DPIA align with the GDPR. We’ll also involve representatives from our marketing and IT departments to help evaluate the feasibility of the proposed profiling practices.
Since we collaborate with a third-party data analytics provider, we will consult them regarding the data processing methods and the security measures they use to protect customer data.
Step 4: Review the Necessity and Proportionality of Data Processing
Next, your DPIA must evaluate whether the data processing is necessary for the intended purposes and if it’s proportionate to the desired outcomes. This step ensures you’re only collecting data that is absolutely required for established reasons.
Importantly, you’ll need to outline the following:
- Your lawful bases for data processing
- The information and controls you give data subjects
- Your plans to ensure data minimization, processor compliance, and adequate data protection during international transfers
Example
Stage 4: Compliance and Proportionality Measures
Our lawful basis for processing customer data is ‘legitimate interests’ since this project directly aligns with our purpose of enhancing the customer experience.
We plan to be completely transparent with our customers throughout the process. To this effect, we’ll give them easy-to-use features to manage their preferences, including opting out of specific processing operations. We’ll also only collect and use the bare minimum amount of data necessary for our purposes.
Our third-party data analytics provider is contractually bound to comply with GDPR and our internal data processing policies. During international transfers, we ensure adequate data protection through standard contractual clauses (SCCs).
Step 5: Identify Data Protection Risks
Now for the main event. Here, you’ll identify and assess the risks of data processing to consumers’ rights and freedoms. This includes risks related to data breaches, unauthorized access, and data misuse, among others.
You’ll also set out the criteria for assessing the risk levels, specifically considering:
- The probability of harm (not likely, likely, very likely)
- The seriousness of harm (small, major, severe)
- The overall risk to data subjects’ rights and freedoms (low, medium, high)
Example
Stage 5: Risk Assessment
The primary source of risk in our enhanced customer profiling project is the comprehensive processing of customer data. The current risks involved are presented in the table below:
| Identified risk | Description | Probability | Seriousness | Overall risk |
| Unauthorized access | Cyber threats may expose personal and sensitive data to unauthorized persons leading to privacy invasion | Likely | Major | Medium |
| Data breach | In the worst-case scenario, a data breach may lead to identity theft and phishing attacks | Likely | Severe | High |
Step 6: Propose Risk Mitigation Measures
After assessing risks, you’ll need to propose and describe measures to lessen said risks. Privacy risks can typically be reduced through more robust security safeguards, such as encryption, pseudonymization, regular security audits, access controls, etc.
In practice, you’ll need to consider how your security safeguards affect the following:
- Impact on risk (removed, lessened, accepted)
- Remaining risk (low, medium, high)
- Acceptance of security measures (yes, no)
Example
Stage 6: Risk Mitigation Measures
After assessing the risks in our enhanced customer profiling project, we’ve determined some measures to reduce medium and high-risk areas, as shown in the table below:
| Risk | Security measures | Impact of risk | Remaining risk | Acceptance of measures |
| Unauthorized access | End-to-end data encryption and access controls to protect data during transmission and storage | Removed | Low | Yes |
| Data breach | Frequent security audits and comprehensive data protection training for all employees who handle customer data | Lessened | Medium | Yes |
While no risk can be entirely eliminated, our security measures (thanks to recommendations from our DPO) show that the remaining risks are at a manageable level.
Step 7: Document DPIA Results
Finally, you’ll need to summarize the complete findings of the DPIA, including additional security measures, ICO consultation, and your DPO’s advice. These records serve as evidence of compliance.
Example
Stage 7: Final Assessment and Sign-off
After reviewing the DPIA and the security measures, our DPO advises that the processing complies with the GDPR and can proceed. Moreover, given the low remaining risk and the robust security measures in place, consultation with the ICO is not deemed necessary.
That being said, we will continuously monitor the security measures in place and update them according to the evolving threat landscape and technological advancements. We’ve also developed a comprehensive crisis management action plan to quickly and effectively respond to security incidents or breaches.
For more insights on this 7-step DPIA example, check out the UK ICO’s Sample DPIA Template.
Alternatively, you can explore a different GDPR DPIA example from other regulatory bodies, such as:
- PIA Template from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia, Canada (OIPC BC)
- PIA Template from the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL)
Common Mistakes With GDPR DPIAs
There are several common pitfalls businesses often fall into when conducting their DPIAs.
Let’s briefly examine a few of them to help you steer clear accordingly:
Not Documenting
Documentation is the backbone of a successful DPIA. It’s not just a record; it’s a trail of insights and decisions.
When you don’t document meticulously, you risk losing the essence of the assessment, making it difficult to justify your conclusions or actions in case of an audit.
Leaving Out Crucial Data Processing Activities
You need to be thorough when identifying your business’s data processing activities. Overlooking any of them might mean leaving privacy risks unaddressed.
This may result in an insufficient understanding of the threats that could undermine your data protection efforts.
Neglecting Stakeholder Involvement
Engaging all relevant stakeholders (especially your DPO) at various stages of your DPIA is critical. Their knowledge and perspectives can help uncover risks that you may otherwise miss.
By not involving them, you risk incomplete risk assessments and inaccurate results, which can compromise the integrity of your DPIA.
Forgetting to Review DPIAs Regularly
A DPIA is not a one-time obligation. It’s a living document that should evolve with your data landscape and be adapted to changing circumstances.
If you don’t revisit and update it, you’re flying blind in the face of evolving risks. Regular reviews ensure your risk assessments and mitigation measures remain sharp and effective.
Remember, a properly executed DPIA is critical for adhering to the GDPR and setting the foundation for a successful corporate compliance program.
If that isn’t incentive enough, DPIA violations under the GDPR can result in fines of up to €10 million or 2% of your business’s worldwide yearly turnover, whichever is higher.
Closing
Now that you’ve seen what an actual GDPR DPIA example requires, it’s time to put that knowledge into action with Captain Compliance.
We specialize in empowering businesses like yours to navigate the intricacies of data privacy compliance effortlessly.
Our tailored DPIA services include:
- Personalized GDPR DPIAs
- Consultancy to customize these templates according to your unique operations
- Expert guidance to ensure proper implementation
Ready to take the next step toward compliance excellence? Get in touch today!
FAQs
Why do I need a GDPR DPIA example?
A GDPR DPIA example provides a practical blueprint for conducting your own DPIA. It illustrates how to structure and approach the assessment, making the process more transparent and manageable for you.
Learn more about the GDPR DPIA Templates
What are the key components of a DPIA I should focus on?
A DPIA should primarily cover the description of processing activities, risk assessment, necessity and proportionality evaluation, risk mitigation measures, and documentation practices. Pay close attention to these elements to ensure a comprehensive and effective DPIA process.
See also: Are Data Protection Impact Assessments Mandatory?
Can I tailor a DPIA example to my specific business processes?
Yes, you can. A DPIA example is a flexible template you can customize to suit your unique business operations. While the example provides a standard framework, feel free to adjust and modify it to align with your data processing activities and industry specifics.
