THE ROLE OF THE DATA PROTECTION OFFICER IN THE REAL ESTATE SECTOR
Real estate brokerage is a multi-agent process where sensitive data are handled and exchanged, from commercial communications to end clients, to contractual relationships with real estate portals and notarized documents.
The arrival of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation has introduced a good deal of new procedures impacting the sector, such as keeping an updated security document, asking customers for consent to processing of their personal data, maintaining a record of processing activities, implementing GDPR-abiding protocols upon data breaches, or guaranteeing the exercise of ARCO rights (Access, Rectification, Cancellation, Opposition) by customers. The biggest novelty, however, is the incorporation of the Data Protection Officer (DPO) role as reflected in the Article 34 of the Spanish Law on Data Protection and Digital Rights Guarantees (“Ley Orgánica de protección de datos y garantía de los derechos digitales”), where the obligation to appoint a DPO is mandated for companies and professional such as real estate developers and agents.
The Data Protection Officer must be a professional with accredited legal expertise on GPDR and a minimum of eight year previous experience. Companies can appoint a staff person to serve as DPO or else contract an external consultant: in either case, the name of the DPO must be communicated to the Spanish Agency for Data Protection (“Agencia Española de Protección de Datos”, AEPD).
The DPO is the professional in charge of reporting, assessing and supervising all personal data-related procedures within the organization.
At Muriel Gestión Consultores, we recommend contracting an external consultant to serve as your company’s DPO, not only for the internal benefits such a professional can bring to the organization, such as guaranteed GPDR abidance, legal counselling and avoidance of non-compliance fines of up to 4% of your annual revenues, but also because this measure will improve your corporate image and your customers’ trust.
CATALINA MURIEL GONZÁLEZ
DATA PROTECTION OFFICER