GDPR Article 72 — Procedure

What this control requires

Ensure the European Data Protection Board adopts decisions by simple majority, except where the Regulation specifies otherwise, and establishes its own rules of procedure and operational arrangements by a two-thirds majority. This control addresses Remedies, Liability and Penalties.

In plain English

Ensure the European Data Protection Board adopts decisions by simple majority, except where the Regulation specifies otherwise, and establishes its own rules of procedure and operational arrangements by a two-thirds majority. In practice, this means you can prove you data board-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 72) 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.
• Cooperation. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Rules. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Consistency. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• European. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Scope: board, procedure, data protection board.

Evidence to collect

• Policy Document. A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.

Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Procedure.

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.

• BSI C5:2020 AM-06 — Asset Classification and Labelling
• India DPDP Act 2023 PD-001 — Data Protection Impact Assessment Programme
• NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.13.15 — Session Authenticity

Related controls in GDPR

• Article Article 66 — Urgency procedure
• Article Article 70 — Tasks of the Board
• Article Article 73 — Chair
• Article Article 68 — European Data Protection Board
• Article Article 69 — Independence
• Article Article 74 — Tasks of the Chair

References

• European Union — GDPR
• Catalogue identifier: Article Article 72

Topics: governance riskpolicy management