'Strong interest' in ICO's privacy seals project, watchdog says

The ICO is working on developing a new framework for endorsing certification schemes that recognise good privacy practices. In a new blog it said it has been "working on establishing the legal structure for the relationship between the ICO and future scheme operators" and that it has launched a procurement aimed at establishing a "marketing strategy and the creation of the logo to represent the privacy seal".

"Once these foundations are ready, we will publish the final framework criteria and invite proposals from potential scheme operators who would like to run an ICO endorsed privacy seal scheme," Gemma Farmer, senior policy officer at the ICO, said

"Our intention is to have a trademarked privacy seal logo, which we can then license to scheme operators," Farmer said. "Each scheme operator – once accredited by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) – will then be able to allow organisations who meet the operator’s assessment criteria to display their seal on their products. Consumers will then be able to identify the organisations that are meeting the highest data protection standards."

The ICO expects the privacy seals initiative to be operational before new EU data protection laws come into force, Farmer said. Depending on its final wording, which is currently being negotiated by EU law makers, the ICO could have to amend the privacy seals framework it develops to account for the General Data Protection Regulation, she said.

"It is difficult to speculate on how the final EU Regulation will look at this stage, but it’s fair to say that all the parties involved in the negotiations support ‘certification mechanisms’ consistent with our plans," Farmer said.

"Based on the [European] Commission’s current timetable, the ICO privacy seal should be up and running before that Regulation comes into force. This should give us – and the scheme operators – some flexibility to adapt our schemes to meet the provisions of the Regulation, if needed. And of course any new law will continue to place a general duty on the ICO to promote awareness and compliance, which the privacy seal will help to fulfil," she said.