Codes of Conduct - GDPR's next hot trend?

The Belgian DPA has approved the first transnational Art.40 GDPR Code of Conduct, which now joins the other national Codes of Conduct approved by the Spanish DPA (advertising industry), the Dutch DPA (IT industry) and the Austrian DPA (education sector). 

The Belgian-approved transnational Code covers Cloud services and appoints SCOPE Europe as the monitoring body, which will ensure members abide by the Code or are removed from its membership.

The UK's ICO also confirmed at its recent Data Protection Practitioners' Conference that it is currently reviewing a number of draft Codes and is hoping to approve a couple of them later this year. 

As more Codes are approved, trade bodies' confidence will grow in drafting new codes and discussing them informally with their local DPA, ready for application submission. Now is therefore a great time for data controllers to familiarise themselves with how Codes work and what the benefits are of joining - more coming from me on this note soon, so watch this space...