RoPA – the centrepiece of data protection, but what needs to be done?

The records of processing activities (RoPA) are an essential component of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It is the centrepiece of the data protection management system (DSMS). It serves as proof of the legally compliant implementation of the data protection principles of the GDPR and as proof of the measures taken to ensure the security and confidentiality of personal data. Why is a records of processing activities required? The RoPA is important for several reasons and is therefore required by law: Transparency: The RoPA serves to create transparency about the processing of personal data within an organisation. This makes it possible to understand how and for what purpose data is processed and who receives it. Accountability: The GDPR places great importance on accountability. The RoPA shows that the company takes its data protection obligations seriously and documents and proves them accordingly. Risk management: An up-to-date RoPA helps to identify, assess and prioritise data protection risks. This in turn facilitates the planning of risk minimisation measures. Fulfilment of legal requirements: Maintaining a RoPA is an explicit requirement of the GDPR for companies and is therefore essential to avoid legal sanctions. Fulfilment of data subject rights: Every natural person (customer, employee, etc.) has a right to access, erasure, rectification, etc. The RoPA provides answers to questions about the processed data. Data protection incidents: In the event of (suspected) data breaches, there is an obligation to inform the data subjects and to notify the data protection supervisory authority. In order to be able to assess which data is affected in which systems and at which processing step the data protection incident occurred, a well-managed RoPA is essential. Steps for creating and maintaining a RoPA The creation and maintenance of the RoPA is an ongoing process that should be carefully planned and implemented. The basic steps for creating a RoPA are Definition of responsibility: It must be determined who within the organisation is responsible for creating and updating the directory. These are usually so-called process owners of the departments and divisions or for systems, etc. Recording of processing activities: Purpose of data processing Categories of data subjects Types of data Recipient of the data data transfers to third countries, if applicable, and the Storage and deletion periods provided for Assessment of the legal basis: A legal basis must be determined and documented for each processing activity in accordance with the GDPR. The legal bases are: consent of the data subject fulfilment of a contract and pre-contractual measures legal obligations or legitimate interest In the case of the legal basis „legitimate interest“, the interest must be described from the company’s point of view and it must be demonstrated that the interest of the data subject does not outweigh this. Risk assessment and data protection impact assessment: A threshold analysis must be used to identify processing activities that may pose a high risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons and, if necessary, a Data protection impact assessment must be carried out. Documentation and updating: The RoPA must be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in processing activities or legal requirements. Provision: It must be ensured that the RoPA can be presented in a structured form on request, e.g. to an authority, a customer. A RoPA not only offers legal protection, but above all and significantly contributes to transparency and process optimisation within the company. It also strengthens the trust of customers, business partners and employees in data protection practices. Irrespective of this, the RoPA is an indispensable basis for the fulfilment of data subjects‘ rights and for the processing and notification of data protection incidents. Author: Regina Mühlich – I am at your disposal for any questions and information. Do you have any questions on this and other topics? E-mail consulting@adorgasolutions.de.

zum Artikel gehen

GDPR: Fines for incorrect risk assessment

Fines may be imposed for „incorrect“ risk assessment in the event of a data breach. In the event of a data breach, in addition to notification to the data protection supervisory authority, it may also be necessary to notify the data subjects. Controllers

zum Artikel gehen

Para todas las futuras madres y madres lactantes que necesiten consejos

Sujetador de lactancia - EMBARAZO & LACTANCIA MATERNA EMBARAZO & LACTANCIA MATERNA Una consulta privada a Audrey & Fred Audrey & Fred ofrece una amplia gama de sujetadores de maternida

zum Artikel gehen

How to ingest MQTT data from VerneMQ into your Data Lake using IoT Core

This post explains how you can ingest data from a MQTT broker such as VerneMQ into your data lake via IoT Core and Kinesis Data Firehose. We’ll set up a data processing pipeline from start to finish in Terraform.

zum Artikel gehen

No Cookie, No Cry: First-party data for effective advertising strategies

With the planned phasing out of 3rd party cookies, the ongoing development of data protection in the digital space and the ever stricter requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), market players are increasingly faced with the challeng

zum Artikel gehen

Reliable Data Streaming on AWS

Reliable Data Streaming on AWS We should agree that in our digital world streaming and especially data streaming becomes more and more important if it isn’t already. Besides performance/throughput and security for a data streaming system reliability

zum Artikel gehen