DPO Meaning
What Does A DPO Worth
For An Organisation?

If you are wondering what the meaning of DPO in detail is, then here you go. Here’s what it entails in a greater length for you. Let’s take it from the beginning.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has placed a duty on organizations to appoint a data protection officer (DPO) who is in charge of compliance at an organization. This is a necessary requirement for offices which are a public authority or body. It is also essential if your organization is regularly carrying out certain types of processing activities for data that may be deemed as personal or sensitive.

If a DPO is in place, they can help and assist your organization as an individual in a special capacity to monitor internal compliance, inform and advise on your data protection practices. They are able to correct policies on the floor, they help in the fulfillment of legal obligations, and provide advice regarding Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) as and when new projects are starting. The DPO may also be a sole contact point for data subjects and the only supervisory authority.

The DPO refers to a person in charge of data protection at an organization. So, they must be independent, an expert in data protection, adequately resourced, and report to the highest management level. If there is a large chain of command, then that may complicate things for the organization.

What helps a DPO be a suitable DPO is that they must know the organizational structure well in order to be able to correct the problems faced directly at all levels. So, it is also advisable for them to be appointed from the existing employees. An externally appointed DPO can also perform this function.

It is also alright for an organization to appoint a shared DPO. This means that a group or organizations or varied, unrelated, multiple organizations can appoint a single DPO between them as well. The DPOs can help organizations to demonstrate compliance and help them with an enhanced focus on accountability.

Position of the DPO

You may need to make sure that the position of the DPO is autonomous. The DPO reports directly to the highest level of management. Organizations have to give the DPO the required independence to perform their tasks with complete comfort and freedom.

It is also essential for the DPO to be contacted by the members of the organization in a timely manner. There must be a system in place where the people can contact the DPO freely. So, the meaning of DPO also entails that the DPO is reachable and can be contacted with ease in all issues relating to the protection of personal data by the entire firm.

All organizations must understand that their DPO has to be sufficiently well resourced to be able to perform their tasks. This means that they must not have any sort of penalty or negative attitude to restrict the DPO from performing their duties. An organization must understand that a DPO is there to facilitate them and help them prevent any legal mishaps. They are a link between the organization and the law. All firms who have DPO’s in place and give them extra responsibilities outside their role as a DPO; must also acknowledge that any other tasks or duties they assign to their DPO does not result in a conflict of interest with their role as a DPO.

Tasks of the DPO

DPO has a lot of predefined tasks. These are all related to monitoring compliance with the GDPR and other data protection laws. The DPO must stay on top of the industry updates. The main tasks of any DPO include knowing, understanding and enforcing data protection policies, awareness-raising, training, and audits.

The task of a DPO is also to make sure that the firm takes account of their DPO’s advice and the information they provide on the data protection obligations. Every firm carrying out a DPIA, must get advice from their DPO who can also monitor the compliance process in the new project.

All of these tasks relate to Article 36 of the GDPR. The DPO must stay in touch with the privacy watchdog. The DPO must also warn the organisation of any risks associated with processing operations, and take into account the nature, scope, context and purpose of processing data in every case possible minimising it.

A DPO must be as easily accessible as a point of contact for our employees, individuals and the respective data privacy watchdog as possible. This is both on the organisation itself and the DPO. They must work together to publish usable and active contact details of the DPO and communicate them to the respective data privacy watchdog.

Why is it important to appoint a Data Protection Officer?

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you are required to appoint a DPO if:

• you are a public authority or body
• your core activities require large scale, regular and systematic monitoring of individuals
• your core activities consist of large scale processing of special categories of data or data relating to criminal convictions and offences.

This applies to both controllers and processors. Some organisations may also voluntarily appoint a DPO; you should be aware that the same requirements of the position and tasks apply had the appointment been mandatory, so you can use this same guide as a reference point to see how and where the DPO needs to be equipped.

It is common accepted practice to make sure whether the GDPR obliges you to appoint a DPO or not, the organisations must ensure that they have sufficient staff and resources to discharge your obligations under the GDPR.

In a nutshell, a DPO can help any organisation, assess their performance and operate within the law by advising. This can be specialised advice in a capacity that other employees may not be able to help with. Especially where sensitive processes take place that are in a direct conflict with the role of a DPO and the employees own designations.

DPO’s not only help to monitor compliance. They can also be seen to play a key role in your organisation’s data protection governance structure and to help improve accountability.

However, it is absolutely fine if the above mentioned criteria does not match your organisation and that it decides that your organization does not need to appoint a DPO. In a voluntary case or because an organization does not meet the above criteria, it is a good idea to record this decision to help demonstrate compliance with the accountability principle. And be able to explain in a court of law why and who performed a check to ensure that the appointment of the DPO is not necessary if and when the time comes to that.

Seers can help you with your DPO requirements so contact us at: info@seersco.com