Prior Check

Prior check  - Processing operations by Community institutions or bodies likely to present specific risks to the rights and freedoms of data subjects must be declared to the EDPS prior to the processing of the data (Article 27 of Regulation (EC) 45/2001).

The EDPS will examine whether the processing respects the Regulation and will deliver an opinion within a period of two months.

In his opinion, the EDPS may make recommendations to the institution or body concerned so as to ensure compliance.

Ex-post prior check

Prior checks concern not only operations not yet in progress (see "Proper prior checks") but also processing operations which started before the EDPS was appointed or before the Regulation (EC) 45/2001 came into force. In such situations a prior-check could not be "prior" in a strict sense but must be dealt with on an "ex post" basis. The EDPS has been absorbing the backlog in ex-post cases.

Proper prior check

The EDPS should give his opinion prior to the start of a processing operation so as to guarantee the rights and freedoms of the data subjects from the start (Article 27 of Regulation (EC) 45/2001). The term "proper prior checks" has been used to distinguish these cases from "ex-post" prior checks (see "Ex-post prior checks").

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European Data Protection Supervisor, 30 July 2011 08:43:30,  http://www.edps.europa.eu/EDPSWEB/edps/cache/off/EDPS/Dataprotection/Glossary