Who Owns Data Retention in Your Organisation?

Is it IT? Legal? HR? Retention needs ownership — or it becomes a shared blind spot. Here’s how to assign responsibility.

Without a clear owner, data retention becomes everyone’s responsibility — and no one’s priority.

Ownership models that work:

• Centralised: Compliance or the Data Protection Officer (DPO) owns the framework
• Decentralised: Department heads implement retention rules locally

Either model can work — but only if:

• Roles are documented
• Retention policies are enforced
• Audit trails exist

Assigning ownership turns policy into practice. Without it, even good policies gather dust.