On 27 February 2023, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) published a new Document on the procedure for the adoption of EDPB Opinions on national criteria for certification and European Data Protection Seals (the “Document“), which was adopted during its 75th Plenary meeting.
In brief, this Document aims to facilitate the adoption of EDPB Opinions on national certification criteria, European Data Protection Seals and certification criteria meant as data transfer tools. It mainly details the steps to be followed by the data protection authorities in the context of the:
- informal and formal procedure for the adoption of such EDPB Opinions;
- procedure for certification sessions;
- admissibility of a draft decision for criteria for certification;
- steps to be fulfilled after the adoption of an EDPB Opinion.
It is worth mentioning that this Document will replace the EDPB document on the procedure for the approval of certification criteria by the EDPB resulting in a common certification, the European Data Protection Seal and certain parts of the Internal Document 04/2019 on the procedure for the adoption of the EDPB Opinions on the DPA’s draft accreditation requirements for certification bodies and the DPA’s draft decisions on criteria of certification.
The full Document is available here, and the EDPB’s press release is here.
