ACS Italia among first in Italy to certify according to new European data protection regulations

Last April 24, 2024, UNI published the new standard UNI CEI EN 17740:2024 “Requirements for professional profiles related to the processing and protection of personal data”, as a transposition of the European standard issued by CEN in October 2023.

The standard regulates the following professional figures:

This standard is based on the Italian standard UNI 11697:2017, which already defined the same professional profiles with the exception of the Data Protection Technician, newly introduced in the EN standard.

In fact, in the European standardization process, the CEN Technical Committee (CEN/CLC/JTC 13) fully incorporated the text of the mentioned UNI standard also with particular reference to the requirements of Knowledge (Knowledge), Skills (Skills) and Competence as well as the relationship between Mission, Expected Results and KPIs.

At the same time, UNI PdR 66:2019 was also replaced by UNI/TS 11945:2024 “Assessment of Conformity with the Requirements Defined by UNI EN 17740”, published last June 2024.

In light of the above, it became necessary to define the transition path of the accreditations issued for ISO/IEC 17024, allowing, therefore, the accredited Certification Bodies (CBs) the migration of the certifications already issued, as well as the issuance of new certifications, in compliance with the new normative-technical framework.

These new references, which replace the Reference Practice UNI/PdR 66:2019 “Recommendations for assessing conformity with the requirements defined in UNI 11697:2017 Unregulated professional activities - Professional profiles related to the processing and protection of personal data - Requirements for knowledge, skills and competence”, which has been applied in Italy until now, offer, among the advantages, an international approach due to the fact that they were born in the ISO framework.

Among the novelties that impact the certificate, the modification of the maintenance requirements for professional updating (ref.to p.to 6.5 of UNI EN 17740) and the elimination of the renewal exam at the fourth year which will be on a documentary basis and the inclusion of a new profile: the Data Protection Technician.

On 07/15/2024, Accredia issued Technical Circular DC No. 26/2024 “Rules of transition and start of accreditation for UNI CEI EN 17740 and UNI/TS 11945 standards in accordance with ISO/IEC 17024 of certifications issued under ACCREDIA accreditation”.

By April 30, 2025 all certified professionals holding Accredia-accredited certification for data protection will have to submit evidence in order to transition to the new standard and thus receive a new certificate that complies with the new standard.