Introducing Two New CIPL Papers on The Central Role of Organisational Accountability in Data Protection

This short paper introduces two CIPL papers on the topic of organisational accountability – The Case for Accountability: How it Enables Effective Data Protection and Trust in the Digital Society and The Case for Accountability: How it Enables Effective Data Protection and Trust in the Digital Society. It outlines the goals of these other papers, including:

• Organisational accountability is central to effective data protection. It places the principal responsibility for protecting personal data and privacy where it belongs — on organisations that collect or handle personal data. Accountability is also essential for the digital transformation of our society and economy in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). It is the only antidote to the current trust deficit in the digital economy and complex information ecosystem.
• The concept of accountability is already well established and understood globally. To ensure global coherence and further convergence with respect to this concept, “GDPR accountability” must be interpreted and applied consistently in line with this generally accepted understanding. This includes taking into account the earlier Opinion on accountability by the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (WP29).
• The many benefits of organisational accountability to all stakeholders warrant incentivising the implementation of accountability, particularly where such accountability goes above and beyond what is strictly required by law.

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