Book a meeting

PECB Certified Data Protection Officer (DPO)

A five-day PECB course that prepares you for the data protection officer role and for monitoring GDPR compliance in your organisation.

The GDPR sets requirements that someone inside the organisation has to own day to day, not only when something has gone wrong. This course gives you the knowledge and skills to serve as a data protection officer (DPO) and help your organisation meet the requirements of the GDPR. The teaching is built on practical exercises, so you practise the role as it is actually carried out: informing, advising, monitoring compliance, and cooperating with the supervisory authority.

Who the course is for

  • Managers and consultants who will prepare and support an organisation in planning, implementing, and maintaining a compliance programme based on the GDPR
  • Data protection officers and others responsible for maintaining conformance with the GDPR requirements
  • Members of information security, incident management, or business continuity teams
  • Technical and compliance experts preparing for a data protection officer role
  • Expert advisors working with the security of personal data

Course content

  • Day 1. Introduction to GDPR concepts and principles: course objectives and structure, the General Data Protection Regulation, core considerations for the GDPR
  • Day 2. Designation of the DPO and analysis of the compliance programme: designation of the DPO, data protection policy, analysis of the GDPR compliance programme, register of processing activities, the relationship with top management, the risk management process
  • Day 3. DPO operations: data protection impact assessment, documentation management, evaluation of the data protection controls, data protection and technology, awareness, training, and communication
  • Day 4. Monitoring and continual improvement of GDPR compliance: incident management and personal data breaches, treatment of nonconformities, monitoring and measuring compliance, continual improvement, data protection internal audit, closing the course
  • Day 5: certification exam

Certification

The course ends with a three-hour exam. It covers three competency domains: data protection concepts, the GDPR, and compliance measures; the roles and responsibilities of the parties accountable for GDPR compliance; and technical and organisational measures for data protection. If you pass, you can apply for the "PECB Certified Data Protection Officer" credential. The "PECB Certified Provisional Data Protection Officer" credential requires no professional or project experience, while the full credential requires five years of work experience, two of them in data protection, and a total of 300 hours of data protection activities. Both require you to sign the PECB Code of Ethics. Examination and certification fees are included in the course, and if you do not pass, you can retake the exam at no cost within twelve months of the first attempt. Everyone who attends receives an attestation of course completion worth 35 CPD credits.