Question 15269 — judicial and legal professions

Summary

Ms. Colette Capdevielle draws the attention of the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice, to the legal framework for outsourced data protection delegates (DPOs) and the risks of breaching the scope of the law that the exercise of their missions raises. The Court of Cassation admitted, in a judgment of March 19, 2025, that a lawyer designated as a data protection delegate can access the bar by way of exemption, her activity of compliance with the GDPR is the responsibility of a specialized legal department. While this decision recognizes that the missions of DPOs can sometimes fall under the law, it does not, however, specify the boundary between legal information and legal consultation reserved for legal professionals. However, the missions defined in Article 39 of the GDPR (inform, advise, control and raise awareness of the law) involve interpretation and application specific to it, giving rise to individualized legal services and the drafting of legal documents. The CNIL also emphasizes that DPOs must be appointed because of their “specialized knowledge of the law”. However, only 28% of them have a legal profile and 43% come from sectors relating to administration, finance, compliance, audit, etc. The certification of DPO, issued by organizations approved by the CNIL, is accessible after two years of professional experience, without compulsory legal training. Thus, a growing number of external DPOs provide personalized advice on the application of law, without being subject to the guarantees attached to regulated professions. In this context, she wishes to know the Government's intentions regarding the supervision of the possibility, given to external DPO consultants, to provide legal consultations, in order to guarantee the legal security of companies and administrations, as well as respect for the scope of the law.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

No documents linked.

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.