Délégué à la protection des données

The EDPS Annual Report 2025 looks back over a year when our work was characterised by the operationalisation of our expanding mandate, guided by our strategic principles: Foresight, Action and Solidarity.

This year’s highlights include:

• the expansion of the AI Unit and activities;
• a record 145 legislative consultations;
• increased scrutiny of international data transfers and large-scale IT systems in the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies;
• analysis and foresight related to emerging technologies.

The digital future is here. We are guiding the EU administration through this transformation with expertise and an unwavering focus on your rights.

This Guidance sets out the EDPS interpretation of the role, position, and tasks of DPOs in Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (EUIs) under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725. It aims to support EUIs in ensuring the effective, independent, and consistent application of Union data protection law, while reinforcing the DPO’s role as a key internal safeguard for the protection of personal data.

NB: The EDPS Decision adopting the Rules on the application of the requirement of prior consent by the EDPS for the dismissal of DPOs mentioned in the Guidance, is scheduled to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union at the start of 2026 and shall enter into force on the 20^th day after its publication.