The Estonian Data Protection Inspectorate (AKI) has published the results of a survey on compliance with the principle of transparency and the obligation to inform by local authorities.

Conducted as part of the coordinated action of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) for 2026, this survey focused on the social sector, notably the assessment of adults' needs and information related to the processing of their data. It reveals that while local authorities consider transparency important, their practice is heterogeneous. The main difficulty identified is the confusion between the obligation to proactively inform individuals and the right of access, which responds to a request. The survey also showed that information on data processing is not always centralized and that transparency actions are not systematically linked to the requirements of the GDPR.

Good practices were nevertheless observed, such as adding information on application forms or using multi-level information. Local authorities expressed a need for more practical guidelines to reconcile legal compliance, clarity for users, and operational feasibility. A legal expert from the authority emphasized that information must be provided on the initiative of the local authority, in a clear and accessible manner. The national results will be consolidated in a European report published by the EDPB.