EDPB Turns to Transparency for Its 2026 GDPR Enforcement Push
Key Takeaways
- 2026 Enforcement Focus: The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) will examine how organisations meet GDPR transparency and information obligations under Articles 12–14.
- Core Principle: Transparency remains a cornerstone of the GDPR, ensuring individuals understand how their personal data is collected and used.
- Coordinated Oversight: National Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) will run parallel investigations, with findings combined for EU-wide analysis and follow-up.
- Track Record of Actions: Previous coordinated efforts targeted public-sector cloud use (2023), Data Protection Officers (2024), and the right of access (2025).
Deep Dive
Europe’s data regulators are turning the spotlight on transparency, one of the GDPR’s most fundamental principles. During its October plenary, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) agreed that its 2026 Coordinated Enforcement Framework (CEF) action will focus on how well organizations are informing people about the use of their personal data under Articles 12, 13, and 14 of the regulation.
The choice of topic brings the GDPR’s core promise, giving individuals control and clarity over their information, back into sharp focus. “Transparency lies at the heart of data protection,” the Board said, adding that the upcoming effort will examine whether people are being given the clear, accessible information needed to understand how their data is processed.
In practice, the initiative means national Data Protection Authorities across the EU and EEA will run parallel investigations into transparency practices next year, with results fed into a broader European analysis. That model, where local actions are coordinated through the EDPB, has become a hallmark of the CEF, allowing regulators to spot systemic issues and push for more consistent enforcement.
The coordinated action is set to roll out through 2026, with DPAs joining voluntarily in the coming weeks. It follows a string of similar efforts that have shaped the enforcement landscape in recent years, inclduing examining cloud use in the public sector (2023) to reviewing the role of Data Protection Officers (2024) and, most recently, assessing how controllers handle access requests (2025). A separate inquiry into the right to erasure, launched earlier this year, is expected to yield its report in the months ahead.
Created in 2020, the Coordinated Enforcement Framework is part of the EDPB’s strategy to strengthen cooperation and consistency across Europe’s privacy regulators. Alongside the Board’s Support Pool of Experts initiative, it reflects a growing emphasis on collective oversight, ensuring the GDPR’s promises of transparency, fairness, and accountability don’t just stay on paper.
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