Episode 1 (“I Eat Candles”)

In this episode, we discuss the pros and cons of the “Certified DPO” certification maze and what that means for organisations.

One of the key points that we discuss is the absence of any formal EU level standard certification or syllabus for the data protection officer role and what that means for people taking on the task, and for recruiters or procurement professionals who are hiring or contracting for these services.

We codenamed this episode: “I eat Candles”… because sometimes the jargon makes us all feel out of our depth – The Castlebridge team cut through the waffle and technobabble to help you make business sense of today’s Information Management world.

Listen to the podcast here:

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Back Up Information

Some useful resources for people who are trying to find relevant training and skills development opportunities or CPD for their DPO role:

• University College has launched a new Diploma in Data Protection and Governance. Castlebridge contributed to the syllabus and members of our team will lecture on the programme.
• The Law Society of Ireland Diploma Centre is opening enrolment for their Autumn 2019 Certificate in Data Protection Practice. Castlebridge has assisted in the development of the course structure since 2013 and team lecture on the course (a number of our team are graduates of this course).
• EDPB Guidance on Certification Schemes (January 2019) – note that this guidance clearly EXCLUDES the concept of certification for DPOs
• EDPB Guidance on accreditation of Certification Bodies (note this guidance is clear that Supervisory Authorities need to ensure they don’t have a conflict of interest in the operation of certification schemes)
• ISO17024:2012 is a standard often cited by companies selling training. All that this means is that the certification has been designed in compliance with a standard for professional certification development. It does not provide any warranty or evidence of the quality of the materials nor does it provide an ISO certified qualification in the relevant discipline (e.g. DPO)