Article 40 — Codes of conduct

GDPR, Regulation (EU) 2016/679

What does GDPR Article 40 say?

Short answer, straight from the official text

1. The Member States, the supervisory authorities, the Board and the Commission shall encourage the drawing up of codes of conduct intended to contribute to the proper application of this Regulation, taking account of the specific features of the various processing sectors and the specific needs of micro, small and medium-sized …

Source: GDPR, Regulation (EU) 2016/679, read 2026-08-14.

Official text

Read from the EU Publications Office for this CELEX number. The wording stands as published; nothing here is rewritten or summarised.

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1. The Member States, the supervisory authorities, the Board and the Commission shall encourage the drawing up of codes of conduct intended to contribute to the proper application of this Regulation, taking account of the specific features of the various processing sectors and the specific needs of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

2. Associations and other bodies representing categories of controllers or processors may prepare codes of conduct, or amend or extend such codes, for the purpose of specifying the application of this Regulation, such as with regard to:

(a) fair and transparent processing;

(b) the legitimate interests pursued by controllers in specific contexts;

(c) the collection of personal data;

(d) the pseudonymisation of personal data;

(e) the information provided to the public and to data subjects;

(f) the exercise of the rights of data subjects;

(g) the information provided to, and the protection of, children, and the manner in which the consent of the holders of parental responsibility over children is to be obtained;

(h) the measures and procedures referred to in Articles 24 and 25 and the measures to ensure security of processing referred to in Article 32;

(i) the notification of personal data breaches to supervisory authorities and the communication of such personal data breaches to data subjects;

(j) the transfer of personal data to third countries or international organisations; or

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Other articles in this chapter

• Article 24
• Article 25
• Article 26
• Article 27
• Article 28
• Article 29
• Article 30
• Article 31
• Article 32
• Article 33
• Article 34
• Article 35

The same rule in other acts

These articles carry the same official heading. The wording is not identical; read each text at its own source.

• DSA Article 45 — Codes of conduct
• P2B Article 17 — Codes of conduct
• UCPD Article 10 — Codes of conduct

Who does this apply to

The register names five roles. Open a role to see the duties this act places on it, each row with its article and its source.

• Cloud service provider

Does this apply to us?

• Do ai governance rules apply to a cloud provider?
• Do personal data rules apply to a cloud provider?
• Do cross-border data rules apply to a cloud provider?
• Do cybersecurity rules apply to a cloud provider?
• Do health data rules apply to a cloud provider?
• Do online platforms rules apply to a cloud provider?

All roles in the register · All questions by role

The text is quoted from the official source and is not legal advice. A national court reads the language version that binds in its jurisdiction.

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