Article 62·low·Component: Chapter VII: Cooperation and ConsistencyWhat this control requires
Ensure supervisory authorities collaborate through joint operations, including investigations and enforcement, across Member States when data processing affects multiple jurisdictions. Authorities must coordinate, share responsibilities, and act under mutual legal frameworks. This control addresses Cooperation and Consistency.
In plain English
Ensure supervisory authorities collaborate through joint operations, including investigations and enforcement, across Member States when data processing affects multiple jurisdictions. In practice, this means you can prove you data investigations-level controls on a defined cadence.
Why it matters
GDPR administrative fines reach the greater of €20 million or 4% of global annual turnover. The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) coordinates supervisory-authority enforcement across the EU/EEA, and DPAs publish enforcement decisions citing specific Articles.
What an auditor looks for
A DPA or privacy auditor expects: a Records of Processing Activities (RoPA) entry, a documented lawful basis, evidence the Article's data-subject right is operationalised end-to-end, a named DPO contact (where required), and Article 30 records that match what the front-end actually does.
Within Chapter VII: Cooperation and Consistency, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Article Article 62) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.
How to implement
Policy Management
Docs. Keep each policy in version-controlled Markdown alongside the code that implements it; ship a signed PDF snapshot at each annual review and link the SHA into the SoA.
Operational checklist
- Data. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
- Joint. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
- Cooperation. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
- Supervisory. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
- Mutual. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
- Scope: investigations, enforcement.
Evidence to collect
- Policy Document. A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.
Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Joint operations of supervisory authorities.
Common pitfalls
- Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced.
How it maps to other frameworks
Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit.
- CIS Controls v8 2.6 — Allowlist Authorized Libraries
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.5 — Contact with authorities
- SOC 2 (2017 TSC) CC2.3 — External Communication on Internal Control Matters
- HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) 164.512(f)(5) — Disclosures for law enforcement purposes: crime on premises
- ISO/IEC 27701:2025 A.3.15 — Independent review
Related controls in GDPR
- Article Article 61 — Mutual assistance
- Article Article 63 — Consistency mechanism
- Article Article 69 — Independence
- Article Article 60 — Cooperation between the lead supervisory authority and the other supervisory authorities concerned
- Article Article 67 — Exchange of information
- Article Article 72 — Procedure
References
- European Union — GDPR
- Catalogue identifier:
Article Article 62
Topics: governance riskpolicy management