Transfer Impact Assessment (TIA)

A Transfer Impact Assessment, or TIA, is an assessment used to evaluate risks associated with transferring personal data internationally, particularly when data moves from the European Economic Area to a country without an adequacy decision.

A TIA typically considers the nature of the data, the countries involved, the recipient, the applicable legal environment, the transfer mechanism, and any technical, contractual, or organizational safeguards.

TIAs became particularly important following the Schrems II decision, which emphasized that organizations using mechanisms such as Standard Contractual Clauses must consider whether transferred data receives an essentially equivalent level of protection in practice.

Organizations may need to revisit a TIA when the data, destination, vendor, processing activity, or applicable law changes.