Codes of conduct and certification

Associations and other bodies representing controllers or processors may prepare codes of conduct, for the purpose of specifying and facilitating the proper application of the provisions of the GDPR in their sector. The Personal Data Protection Office encourages work in this regard.

Adhering to a code of conduct comes with numerous benefits for those applying the code. They are guaranteed the certainty of applying specific solutions approved by the supervisory authority. As a rule, they can also count on monitoring of the compliance with the code's provisions by an independent monitoring body. In practice, this means that, for example, the inspection of an entity, or the handling of complaints from data subjects, can take place without the involvement of the supervisory authority.

An undoubted benefit of applying the code is also a certain protection in the context of possible fines. This is because the supervisory authority, in the event of imposing a fine on an entity, takes into account in each case whether the entity has properly applied the code of conduct, which has been approved by the supervisory authority.

Adhering to a code of conduct comes with numerous benefits for those applying the code. They are guaranteed the certainty of applying specific solutions approved by the supervisory authority. As a rule, they can also count on monitoring of the compliance with the code’s provisions by an independent monitoring body. In practice, this means that, for example, the inspection of an entity, or the handling of complaints from data subjects, can take place without the involvement of the supervisory authority.

General information