Why Data Privacy Impact Assessments Must Be a Backbone of any Effective Privacy Program | Potomac Law Group, PLLC
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/why-data-privacy-impact-assessments-9691846/
Publish Date: 2026-01-30 15:16:00
Source Domain: www.jdsupra.com
From GDPR requirement to U.S. State risk-assessment mandates, DPIAs and PIAs are essential governance tools for the modern data economy.
What Is a Data Privacy Impact Assessment?
A Data Privacy Impact Assessment (DPIA)—often referred to with a broader remit in the United States as a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA)—is a structured, documented, forward-looking process designed to identify, assess, and mitigate privacy risks before a new data processing activity begins. The concept is most closely associated with Article 35 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires organizations to carry out a Data Protection Impact Assessment when processing is “likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons.” Essentially, under GDPR Article 35, a DPIA must describe the contemplated processing activity, assess its necessity and proportionality, evaluate risks to individuals, and identify measures to address those risks. Importantly, the GDPR positions the DPIA not as a defensive document prepared after a problem arises, but as a preventive compliance mechanism embedded early in product design and operational planning.
While DPIAs are often viewed as a distinctly European concept, the concept has become increasingly influential in the United States. In fact, privacy impact assessments represent one of the clearest examples of U.S. state legislatures borrowing a GDPR-inspired governance model and adapting it to U.S. legal traditions and regulatory structures. While many U.S. companies have long implemented PIAs in one form or another since at least the advent of the GDPR, many U.S. state laws now follow suit by adding PIAs to legal obligations.
California Leads the U.S. with a Risk-Based Model
California’s privacy regime—the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)—contains the most developed U.S. regulatory analogue to the GDPR DPIA requirements….
