It was in January 2017 that registration for taking Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe certification began to outpace its domestic flagship counterpart, the CIPP/US. Flash-forward one year and the CIPP/E is now the most widely sought-after certification in the International Association of Privacy Professionals portfolio of accreditations. This shift is holistically attributed to the looming European Union General Data Protection Regulation going into effect on May 25, 2018, as well as a growing community of professionals, largely in legal, thirsty for greener career pastures.
The IAPP is currently testing nearly one thousand people a month for the CIPP/E. Of its 36,000 current members, 12,500 have passed and maintain at least one of the privacy certifications. The IAPP has existed for just over 15 years, and the EU’s GDPR may be the best thing that has ever happened to it or the industry.
