1. Taking into account the nature, scope, context and purposes of processing as well as the risks of varying likelihood and severity for the rights and freedoms of natural persons, the controller shall implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure and to be able to demonstrate that processing is performed in accordance with this Regulation. Those measures shall be reviewed and updated where necessary.
Article 24 GDPR - Responsibility of the controller
2. Where proportionate in relation to processing activities, the measures referred to in paragraph 1 shall include the implementation of appropriate data protection policies by the controller.
3. Adherence to approved codes of conduct as referred to in Article 40 or approved certification mechanisms as referred to in Article 42 may be used as an element by which to demonstrate compliance with the obligations of the controller.
Frequently Asked Questions
Short answers to common questions about this provision. They are general information and not legal advice.
Paragraph 1 obliges the controller to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure, and to be able to demonstrate, that processing complies with the Regulation, and to review and update those measures where necessary. It thereby operationalises the accountability principle stated in Article 5(2) at the level of the controller's whole organisation.
Paragraph 1 ties the assessment to the nature, scope, context and purposes of the processing and to the risks of varying likelihood and severity for the rights and freedoms of natural persons. The obligation is therefore risk-based and scalable rather than a fixed catalogue, so a small low-risk operation and a large-scale high-risk one call for different measures.
Not necessarily. Paragraph 2 requires the measures to include appropriate data protection policies only where that is proportionate in relation to the processing activities, leaving room for controllers with limited or low-risk processing to demonstrate compliance by other means.
Beyond documenting its own measures, paragraph 3 provides that adherence to approved codes of conduct under Article 40 or approved certification mechanisms under Article 42 may be used as an element by which to demonstrate compliance. Neither adherence nor certification proves compliance conclusively, since the text describes them only as an element of the demonstration.
No. The second sentence of paragraph 1 requires the measures to be reviewed and updated where necessary, so compliance is a continuing obligation that must track changes in the processing, its context and the associated risks.