Organizations
A Register of Processing Activities must have at least one organization: the one it belongs to.
Additionally, other organizations may be created to store information about other organizations that may appear in the ROPA (data processors, joint controllers, or data controllers to whom our own organization is data processor).
- Your own organization is the legal entity that answers for the register. Its details go on every document, it holds the license. It is the default data controller of every new activity and must appear as either data controller, joint controller or data processor in all data processing activities of the rROPA.
- Every other organization is a partner: a data processor you engage, a joint controller you share a purpose with, or a controller you process data for. Partners are entered once and then picked wherever they play a role.
All of them are listed and administered together.
What is special about your own organization
| Your organization | A partner | |
|---|---|---|
| Role in activities | Default controller of every new activity; must be a controller or processor in each one and cannot be removed | Controller, processor or joint controller, as you assign it — or absent |
| On documents | Name, address and contact on every declaration, every information clause and the ROPA PDF | Named where it plays a role in the activity |
| Address on the web | {short-name}.rat.gd | — |
| Can be deleted | No | Yes, once it plays no role in any activity |
Public and private organizations
Your own organization is either public or private, and that decides who can read the register at {short-name}.rat.gd.
| Public | Private | |
|---|---|---|
| Art. 13 information clause | ✅ Reachable by anyone | ✅ Reachable by anyone |
{short-name}.rat.gd access | ✅ Anyone | ❌ Members only |
| Browsing the register in View mode | ✅ Anyone | ❌ Members only |
| Art. 30 declaration of each activity | ✅ Readable and downloadable (PDF, RTF) by anyone | ❌ Members only |
| Full ROPA PDF | ✅ Downloadable by anyone | ❌ Members only |
| Editing | ❌ Administrators only | ❌ Administrators only |
| Partner details, contacts and contracts | ❌ Never exposed beyond what the documents print | ❌ Never exposed beyond what the documents print |
| Typical use | An entity with legal obligation to publish its ROPA A company that publishes its ROPA as part of its transparency policy The demo organization | Any ROPA meant for internal use Test organizations are always private |
The information clause is always public
The Art. 13 information clause is the exception: it is reachable by anyone in both cases, because it exists precisely to be read by the people whose data you process, who are not members and never sign in.
What an organization holds
| Short name | The identifier used in lists and, for your own organization, in its address ({short-name}.rat.gd) |
| Full name | The legal name, as it should appear on documents |
| VAT number | Enter it and choose Look up: the registered company name and address are retrieved and offered to fill the form. If the number cannot be verified you can still continue and type the details yourself |
| Address | Typed as a single line and interpreted automatically into street, city, postal code and country; if the interpretation fails, the parts can be entered by hand |
| Contacts | At least one person — for your own organization typically the data protection officer, for a partner the person you deal with there. See Contacts |
| Colour | Identifies the organization wherever several are shown side by side — in an activity's controllers and processors, in contracts |
| Logo | Optional, but worth adding for every partner, not just your own organization: it is shown wherever the partner appears across the application, and a familiar logo is recognised far faster than a name in a list. For your own organization it also appears in the top bar and on the documents |
| Website | Optional; for your own organization it becomes a link in the top bar |
| Notes | Free text for what the register cannot express in a field: projects you are about to start with this organization, an agreement under negotiation, an audit finding to follow up, a reason it was chosen or is being phased out. People belong in contacts, not here. Never printed on documents |