GDPR — Article 38

The article's text

Article 38
Position of the data protection officer
1. The controller and the processor shall ensure that the data protection officer is involved, properly and in a timely manner, in all issues which relate to the protection of personal data.
2. The controller and processor shall support the data protection officer in performing the tasks referred to in Article 39 by providing resources necessary to carry out those tasks and access to personal data and processing operations, and to maintain his or her expert knowledge.
3. The controller and processor shall ensure that the data protection officer does not receive any instructions regarding the exercise of those tasks. He or she shall not be dismissed or penalised by the controller or the processor for performing his tasks. The data protection officer shall directly report to the highest management level of the controller or the processor.
The data protection officer shall directly report to the highest management level of the controller or the processor.
4. Data subjects may contact the data protection officer with regard to all issues related to processing of their personal data and to the exercise of their rights under this Regulatfull textion.
5. The data protection officer shall be bound by secrecy or confidentiality concerning the performance of his or her tasks, in accordance with Union or Member State law.
6. The data protection officer may fulfil other tasks and duties. The controller or processor shall ensure that any such tasks and duties do not result in a conflict of interests.

Who wrote about this article in the consultations

Filers who named this exact article number in their own text. It is their sentence, not our reading — and not a causal claim.

NGO

ACADEMIC_RESEARCH_INSTITTUTION

Who	Country	What they wrote
EDRi European Digital Rights	ES	ional responsibilities, insufficient seniority, etc.)? EDRi is concerned that, although DPOs are expected to be independent under Article 38(3), this independence is frequently compromised in practice. DPOs may hesitate to critique management decisions related ↗
CPME - Standing Committee of European Doctors	BE	s in secondary use (interplay with Articles 9(4) and 7 of the GDPR); data altruism and right to withdraw consent; consequences of Article 38(2) of the EHDS on data subject rights under the GDPR. ↗
ZKI e.V.	DE	der Kommission als verbindlich vorgesehen werden. In Bayern ist dies für den behördlichen Bereich durch Art. 38 BayDiG bereits umgesetzt, weitere gegebenenfalls auch auseinanderfallende nationale Regelungen drohen, wenn in der DSGVO keine dahingehende Harmonis ↗
Czech Data Protection Association	CZ	om the employment or other relationship between them and the controller or processor concerned). In practice, despite the text of Article 38(3) of the GDPR, it will often not be clear to what extent the DPO is required to cooperate in an investigation carried ↗
Universiteit van Amsterdam (IViR), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (LSTS) and KU Leuven (CiTiP)	BE	f the tasks of the data protection officer is to monitor whether the data controller is compliant with the law. The provisions in article 38 are intended to ensure that DPOs are independent in their task and have a direct line with the highest level of managem ↗

Source: public consultation submissions and position papers. n = 5 mentions; counted as a literal reference to the article number.

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