A little more than 20 months after the EuroPriSe privacy certification seal changed hands on January 1, 2014, the new operation has awarded its first Website Certification Seal to the Website of Versorgungsanstalt des Bundes und der Länder (Germany's Pension Institution of the Federal Republic and the Länder), known as VBL. Previously, seals were only awarded to IT-based services for confirmation that data processing and collection met European data protection law. 

EuroPriSe describes this certification as a "trial run," testing out its process of certifying that "data processing resulting from typical interactions between a web server and the visitor's browser conforms to European data protection law." The aspects EuroPriSe looks at, known as the Inspection Catalogue (link downloads a file), were slightly limited for the trial run, and will be updated for the formal process, but include use of cookies, storage of IP addresses, use of Flash and Silverlight, use of web analytics, social plug-ins, how a site deals with access for children, subscription services and the quality and accessibility of the privacy policy.  

This type of certification does not look at access-restricted portions of a website or web-based commerce services, however.

According to a press release, EuroPriSe will further develop its process based on this trial run, looking to reduce cost and the length of the process with an eye toward developing tools to make the certification at least somewhat automated. They will present the next iteration at an upcoming EuroPriSe Expert Enhancement Workshop in Berlin, Germany, on November 6.

“The VBL took on the special challenges of running a pilot process and handled them with confidence and professionalism,” said Sebastian Meissner, head of the EuroPriSe Certification Authority, in the release. “The notification system for the usage of cookies is particularly exemplary, efficiently combining a cookie banner and Cookie Policy web page to keep visitors informed.”

EuroPriSe now maintains a record on its site explaining the process that VBL went through and what the certification means. The certification remains valid for two years, though EuroPriSe indicates it will monitor the website in April and December of 2016.