Art. 38 GDPR · Chapter IV: Controller and processor · Section 4: Data protection officer
Article 38 GDPR: Position of the data protection officer
Text as of 28 October 2026 Reviewed by Sergio Maldonado Elvira on 29 October 2026
Summary (not the official text)
The controller and the processor must involve the data protection officer properly and in a timely manner in all issues relating to the protection of personal data and support him or her in performing the tasks. The officer must not receive instructions regarding those tasks, must not be dismissed or penalised for performing them, and reports directly to the highest management level.
Official text
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.
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.
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.
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 Regulation.
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.
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.
Source: Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Official Journal L 119, 4.5.2016, as corrected. Only the text published in the Official Journal is authentic. © European Union, https://eur-lex.europa.eu
Text as of 28 October 2026.
This is reference material, not legal advice.
Related recitals
This list is under review.
Court of Justice judgments
- C-453/21, X-FAB Dresden GmbH & Co. KG v FC
Judgment of 9 February 2023ECLI:EU:C:2023:79
Confirms national just-cause protection for DPOs; a conflict of interests exists where the DPO also has tasks that involve deciding purposes and means of processing, assessed case by case.
- C-534/20, Leistritz AG v LH
Judgment of 22 June 2022ECLI:EU:C:2022:495
Member States may give data protection officers stronger protection against dismissal than the GDPR, such as dismissal only for just cause, if this does not undermine the GDPR's aims.
EDPB guidance
- Guidelines on Data Protection Officers ('DPO')
WP243 rev.01FinalEndorsed by the EDPB 25 May 2018
Fines
Amounts are shown in the currency in which the fine was imposed.
- McDonald’s Polska Sp. z o.o.: PLN 16,932,657
Prezes Urzędu Ochrony Danych Osobowych (Polish Data Protection Authority), PolandAnnounced on 21 July 2025Appeal status: unknown
Outsourced staff scheduling without risk analysis or supervision of the processor, so employee data (names, PESEL or passport numbers, shifts) ended up in a public directory.
Not fully confirmed: Decision date not shown on the page (announcement date used). Three fines: PLN 1,632,063 + 13,600,528 + 1,700,066. The processor was fined PLN 183,858 in total. Articles taken from the narrative; the page does not give a single list of infringed articles.
- Minister van Financiën (controller for the Belastingdienst, Dutch Tax Administration): EUR 3,700,000
Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (Dutch Data Protection Authority), NetherlandsDecision of 7 April 2022Appeal status: unknown
Kept an unlawful fraud blacklist (FSV) on about 270,000 people for over six years: no legal basis, inaccurate data, weak security, DPO not involved in the DPIA.