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Data retention + deletion policy

data-retention-policyDomain: data-privacyType: policy

Description

A data retention policy is the document that converts the storage-limitation principle (GDPR Article 5(1)(e), CCPA disclosure-of-retention requirements, sectoral retention rules under HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOX, FINRA, and the equivalents elsewhere) into concrete rules the engineering team can implement. The shape is a per-category table: each category of personal or regulated data, the retention period, the basis for the period (regulatory minimum, regulatory maximum, contractual obligation, legitimate-interest balancing test, statute of limitations for foreseeable claims), the deletion or archival mechanism at end-of-period, and the exception path for legal-hold. The recurring failure mode is the gap between the policy and its enforcement: a policy that says "delete after 24 months" with no automated deletion job pointed at the relevant tables is, for regulator purposes, no policy at all. Most programs find that the policy is the easy half and the deletion-job inventory plus monitoring is the harder half, particularly in distributed-data architectures where the same logical record may live across application database, analytics warehouse, backups, and vendor systems on different retention clocks. Legal-hold management adds another layer of complexity that tends to get under-budgeted at program design time.

Required by (6 regulations)

  • Marco Civil

    Lei nº 12.965, de 23 de abril de 2014 (Marco Civil da Internet), regulated by Decreto nº 8.771, de 11 de maio de 2016

  • CA AADC

    Cal. Civ. Code §§1798.99.28-1798.99.40 (AB 2273, 2022)

  • CCPA/CPRA

    CCPA §1798.100(a)(3) — disclose retention periods.

    Cal. Civ. Code §§1798.100-1798.199.100; 11 CCR §7000-7102

  • GDPR

    Article 5(1)(e) storage-limitation principle; Articles 13/14 transparency about retention.

    Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council

  • PIPA

    Personal Information Protection Act (Act No. 10465, enacted March 29, 2011; last wholly amended by Act No. 19234, effective September 15, 2023)

  • KVKK

Fulfilled by (2)

  • onetrust · partial · medium effort · $$
  • In-house build · medium effort

ClearLaunch does not accept payment from vendors. Methodology.

Evidence formats

  • retention schedule
  • deletion automation logs
  • archival policy

ClearLaunch provides legal information based on publicly available regulatory sources. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before making compliance decisions.

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Built by Neel Patel, in-house game counsel. Games touch more compliance domains at once than anything else in tech. That's what ClearLaunch was designed around.

ClearLaunch provides legal information based on publicly available regulatory sources. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before making compliance decisions. Operated by a Washington-licensed attorney. Not licensed in California or other US states. ClearLaunch provides legal information; consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction. Data reviewed through March 2026. Methodology

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