The Helsinki Statement on enhanced clarity, support and engagement

A fundamental rights approach to innovation and competitiveness

The European Data Protection Board has adopted the following statement:
At a two-day high-level meeting in Helsinki (1–2 July 2025), the EDPB members agreed on new initiatives to facilitate easier GDPR compliance, to enhance the dialogue with a broad range of stakeholders, to strengthen consistency and to develop cross-regulatory cooperation in the new digital regulatory landscape.

These initiatives enable, in particular, micro, small and medium organisations; empower responsible innovation; and reinforce competitiveness in Europe.

The EDPB members underlined the essential role of data protection in upholding European values
and individuals’ fundamental rights, and supporting the human-centric use of personal data.

Across its efforts, the EDPB will strengthen its dialogue with stakeholders, holding proactive and early engagement to identify specific areas where further support and clarification is required, and providing the opportunity for stakeholders to flag possible inconsistencies and give feedback. The EDPB will publicly report on the main outcomes of public consultations.

The EDPB notes the importance of also providing timely and concise guidance that is accessible, easy to understand, and practical for micro, small and medium organisations in line with the risk-based approach. With this in mind, the EDPB agreed to update its working methods and to develop complementary formats for guidance.

New tools to help make GDPR application easier will include:

• a series of ready-to-use templates for organisations, building on and harmonising the work already done at national level;
• a common template for data breach notifications for Data Protection Authorities (DPAs), in view of streamlining data breach notifications and easing the burden of organisations, in support of a possible cross-regulatory European notification solution;
• direct and easily-applicable resources, including checklists, how-tos and FAQs, to help organisations understand their key obligations.

The EDPB will enhance consistency of the application and enforcement of the GDPR by DPAs, including:

• the collection of positions by DPAs on priority issues taken in national guidance and decisions, as well as court judgments, to produce ‘case law’-style publications which help organisations understand concrete positions taken by DPAs;
• regular follow-ups on guidelines to ensure their effectiveness and consistent application including, where appropriate, through reviews of guidelines and targeted coordinated enforcement actions and strategies;
• continued efforts to align national and EDPB guidance where inconsistencies are identified;
• greater harmonisation of enforcement by developing common practices, methodologies, tools and common actions, even when the one-stop-shop mechanism is not applicable;
• when strategic cross-border topics arise, DPAs will prioritise the preparation of EU positions to ensure consistency by design.

The EDPB will further proactively engage with other regulators to support the new cross- regulatory landscape, embedding this within its priorities and procedures, while maintaining coherent and consistent safeguards for the protection of personal data. This engagement will include:

• the preparation of further joint guidelines together with other regulators, as appropriate, to ensure consistency in the application of different legal frameworks;
• fostering structured cooperation with other regulators to share experiences and to address legal and practical challenges to cross-regulatory cooperation on concrete cases;
• the proactive invitation of other regulators to relevant EDPB meetings.

Finally, the EDPB recalls the significant progress achieved in enforcement cooperation over the past three years, since the adoption of the Vienna Statement on Enforcement Cooperation on 28 April 2022, as well as the growing synergies among DPAs. With this solid foundation, the EDPB is well-positioned to effectively address emerging challenges.