Organization

Learn more about how the Danish Data Protection Agency is organized.

The Danish DPA consists of a Council and a Secretariat. The Council makes decisions in specific cases of a principled nature, and the day-to-day business is dealt with by the Secretariat, which employs approximately 80 persons (2025) and is headed by a Director.

The Director of the Danish DPA is appointed by HM The Queen. The Director of the Danish DPA is chosen on the basis of a public job posting and is appointed for a period of five years with the possibility of reappointment for three more years without a public job posting. Thereafter, it is mandatory to make a public job posting in order to occupy the position. However, it is possible to reappoint the same Director. All other members of the staff are appointed by the Director of the Danish DPA.

 

Responsibilities and tasks

  • Strategy, service and development
  • Staff/HR
  • Finance and budget
  • Records Management
  • Internal IT Service and IT Security, including ISO 27001
  • Press and other communication
  • Data Protection Council (Datarådet)

 

  • Reports of personal data breaches
  • Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA)
  • Certification
  • Digital Governance
  • The technology of the future etc.
  • Consultations
  • Guidance etc.

  • Research and statistics
  • Healthcare sector
  • Financial sector
  • Authorisations for processings of personal data that are necessary for reasons of public interest
  • The affairs of the press and the information databases of the mass media
  • The Danish TV Surveillance Act
  • Archives
  • Greenland and the Faroe Islands
  • Requests and complaints
  • Credit rating agencies
  • Warning registry etc.
  • The requirement of maintaining records
  • Marketing and consumer law
  • Telecommunication

  • The European Data Protection Board (EDPB)
  • Nordic cooperation
  • International cooperation
  • European information systems, including Schengen, VIS, Eurodac, Eurojust, IMI mv.
  • Transfers to third countries, including BCR
  • The Danish Law Enforcement Act

The National Whistleblower Scheme handles report on certain kinds of breaches, including

  • breaches of certain types of EU-law
  • serious breaches of the law and other serious offences
  • harassment and sexual harassment.

Read more on the National Whisteblower Scheme website.

Our budget

The budget of the Danish DPA is determined by the Danish Parliament.

Every year, the budget of the Danish DPA is determined in the Danish Finance Act, which includes the entire budget of the Danish state in the coming year. It is the government and the Minister of Finance that prepares and presents the bill for the Finance Act.

The budget of the Danish DPA is determined together with the other state authorities’ budgets through dialogue between the Ministry of Finance and the other ministries, which in relation to the Danish DPA is the Ministry of Justice. On that basis the government will make a final decision regarding the overall budget presented in the bill.

The agreement on a final Finance Act is concluded on the basis of negotiations between the government and the political parties in the Danish Parliament.