• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • About
    • Board of Directors
    • Advisory Board
    • Code of Ethics
    • Privacy Commitment
    • Fellowship Awards
    • Media
  • Get Involved
    • Membership
      • Advancing the Profession
      • Member Benefits
      • Why Join the PACC
      • Member Contact Update
    • Speak Out
    • Volunteer
    • Donate
      • Donor Bill of Rights
  • Certification
    • Apply for Certification
    • Recertification
    • Why Pursue Certification?
    • Certificate or Certification?
    • Accreditation
  • Resources
    • Strategic Privacy and Access Resource Center
      • Parents & Teachers
      • Standards
      • SPARC Contribution Guidelines
    • International Data Flows
    • Commissioners
    • Careers
    • Publications
    • Training & Education
  • News & Views
    • Guest Post Guidelines
  • Contact
    • Speaking Invitations & Media Requests
    • Stay Informed & Avoid Spam
    • Partner
  • Login

The Privacy and Access Council of Canada

The voice for privacy and access

You are here: Home / Resources / Standards and Guidelines

Standards and Guidelines

Like all mature professions, data protection is based on a common set of competencies. But that wasn’t always the case. 

After decades of access and privacy laws being on the books, and practitioners (and employers) guessing at what it takes to be a data protection professional, a few visionary PACC leaders decided to do something to formalize a profession that had come into existence in response to laws being enacted, but with little guidance or structure. 

In 2009, after years of research and development, with support and participation of employers & data protection regulators across jurisdictions, PACC published the Essential Trilogy — the foundational industry Core Competencies & Professional Standards, the Common Body of Knowledge (CBK), and the principal Code of Conduct for the industry.

The Essential Trilogy provides the most comprehensive description of the generally accepted levels of skill, knowledge, and ethical standards and conduct that define the modern access and privacy profession. 

The Essential Trilogy articulates the profession’s basic competencies, and uses clear, easy-to-understand statements that provide a foundation for data protection professionals, regulators, recruiters and employers to manage professional and career development. 

The Standards, CBK and Code of Conduct benchmark the skills and competencies needed to be masterful at each level of a data protection career, while offering flexibility that reflects differences between industries, sectors, and roles. 

Although developed long before the GDPR, the concepts reflected in PACC’s Core Competencies & Professional Standards, the Common Body of Knowledge, and Code of Conduct — which are embodied in PACC’s Professional Certification Program — reflect current global data protection and information governance requirements, and serve as the foundation for developing the official Canadian standard of competency for the profession in all sectors and will be available for adoption by other countries.

• Contact us to request your copy of the Core Competency Standards
• Contact us to request your copy of the Common Body of Knowledge
• Read the Code of Conduct


PACC’s Strategic Privacy and Access Resource Center provides a wide range of resources relevant for anyone interested in access and privacy — including human resource professionals, lawmakers, and course developers. To gain access to the full range of standards and guidelines, join the PACC.

Footer

PACC is the voice for privacy and access.

PACC is Independent  •  Non-profit  •  Non-partisan  •  Non-government

PACC is dedicated to the development and promotion of the access-to-information, information privacy, and data governance profession across the private, non-profit and public sectors.

PACC is the certifying body for access and privacy professionals, and engages in outreach efforts to advance awareness about access, privacy, and data protection.

Recent Posts

  • Qualification and proficiency of privacy and access control professionals
  • Have Your Say — IAB Canada Transparency & Consent Framework Policies
  • How Do Dating Apps Use My Data? A Video Explainer in time for Valentine’s Day
  • Data Governance Standard Under Development
  • Help shape Ontario’s Digital ID Program

© 2021 · Privacy and Access Council of Canada · Maintained by SLIcore Design.