European Data Protection Board Issues Guidelines On Codes Of Conduct Under General Data Protection Regulation

On 12 February 2019, the European Data Protection Board ("EDPB") published for public consultation Guidelines 1/2019 on Codes of Conduct and Monitoring Bodies under Regulation 2016/679 ("GDPR").  The Guidelines seek to provide practical guidance and interpretative assistance in relation to the application of Articles 40 (codes of conduct) and 41 (monitoring of codes) of the GDPR.

The creation of a code is open to all trade associations or bodies representing a sector and can provide more specific information on how to comply with the GDPR. Codes can be national or transnational, the latter meaning that the code covers processing activities in more than one Member State.

From a compliance perspective, codes can be a useful and effective accountability tool, providing a detailed description of the most appropriate, legal and ethical set of behaviours of a sector. In this regard, codes can be drawn up to reflect the specific characteristics of processing carried out