GDPR Data Retention Enforcement (GDPR-11)
GDPR Data Retention Enforcement (GDPR-11)
Overview
GDPR Article 5(1)(e) — the storage limitation principle — requires that personal data is not retained for longer than is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. This page documents the compliance finding raised under control GDPR-11, the gap identified, and the planned remediation approach for the platform.
The Problem
Retention periods for the following data categories are defined in the platform's privacy documentation:
| Data Category | Documented Retention Period |
|---|---|
| Usage analytics | 2 years |
| Cookie consent records | Duration of the consent period |
However, no automated mechanism exists to enforce these retention periods. Without enforcement, data will accumulate indefinitely unless users manually trigger deletion. This represents a gap against GDPR Art. 5(1)(e) and poses regulatory risk.
Planned Remediation
The remediation for GDPR-11 is a scheduled data retention enforcement job that runs on a monthly cadence, implemented as either a GitHub Actions workflow or a Vercel cron function.
Job Responsibilities
- Delete or anonymise usage analytics that are older than 2 years.
- Purge cookie consent records that have exceeded their consent period.
- Identify and surface records that are approaching their retention limit, so the compliance team can review them before automated action is taken.
Implementation Principles
- The job will reuse the existing soft-delete and anonymisation logic already present in the GDPR delete endpoint, ensuring consistent data handling across manual and automated flows.
- All purge actions will be logged for auditability.
- The job should be idempotent — safe to run multiple times without unintended side effects.
Current Status
⚠️ Finding raised — remediation not yet implemented.
Until the automated job is in place, operators should manually review data retention using the GDPR delete endpoint.
Related
- GDPR Article 5(1)(e) — Storage Limitation Principle
- GDPR-11 Compliance Control
- Internal: GDPR Delete Endpoint (soft-delete / anonymisation logic)