The CMS GDPR Enforcement Tracker is one of the most widely used public databases for tracking fines and penalties imposed by data protection authorities under the GDPR. CMS notes that the list aims to remain as up to date as possible, while acknowledging that not all fines are made public.
What makes the tracker valuable is not just the raw list of fines; it is the ability to observe patterns across time, sector, and violation type. The tracker also publishes statistics summarising fines over time and by category, offering a practical lens on what regulators are prioritising in enforcement.
For compliance leaders, this kind of data is increasingly used to inform risk discussions. While enforcement is never purely predictable, trend visibility supports decisions about where to invest: transparency programmes, consent design, security controls, vendor oversight, or transfer governance. It also helps organisations sanity-check internal narratives. If a business believes an issue is “low risk”, but the enforcement landscape shows repeated and significant sanctions in that area, the gap becomes harder to defend.
CMS also publishes an annual Enforcement Tracker report as a deeper dive into fining activity and themes across the EU and the UK ICO’s practice. In combination, the database and annual reporting form a useful external benchmark against which organisations can measure their internal privacy maturity.
Acompli perspective: Enforcement tracking is most useful when it is connected to your internal control framework. A fine database is not merely “news”; it is a dataset that can inform how you score risks, prioritise DPIAs, and calibrate vendor requirements. Organisations that translate enforcement signals into structured control improvements move faster and spend less time reacting to surprises.