What is Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)?
A process required under GDPR for evaluating the privacy risks of new projects or technologies that process personal data at scale.
A DPIA is a systematic analysis of how a project collects, uses, and protects personal data.
When It's Required
- Systematic monitoring of public areas (CCTV)
- Large-scale processing of sensitive data (health records, biometrics)
- Automated decision-making that affects individuals (credit scoring, profiling)
- New technologies with unknown privacy implications
What It Includes
- Description of the processing and its purposes
- Assessment of necessity and proportionality
- Evaluation of risks to individuals
- Measures to mitigate those risks
Privacy by Design Connection
DPIAs are most effective when done early in development. Retrofitting privacy into a finished system is expensive and often inadequate. The best organizations make DPIAs part of their product development process.
Related Terms
Data Minimization
A privacy principle that organizations should collect only the minimum amount of personal data necessary for a specific purpose, and retain it only as long as needed. This reduces privacy risks by limiting exposure in case of breaches or misuse.
GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation is a comprehensive data protection law in the European Union that gives individuals control over their personal data. It establishes strict requirements for how organizations collect, process, store, and transfer personal information.
Privacy by Design
An approach to systems engineering that takes privacy into account throughout the entire engineering process. Rather than bolting privacy protections onto existing systems, Privacy by Design builds privacy into the architecture from the ground up.
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