Can a DAO be required to appoint a data protection officer or comply with other data privacy reporting requirements?

A DAO can be required to appoint a data protection officer or comply with other data privacy reporting regulations if it falls within the scope of the respective data privacy laws.This depends on the single case, in particular on the activities of the given DAO. Regarding the German market, currently the GDPR is most likely to be relevant. The applicability of the GDPR requires basically that the DAO is established in the territory of the EU and processes personal data in a wholly or partly automated manner. However, not all entities falling under GDPR are automatically subject to all relevant obligations arising from it. In particular, some
relevant obligations require that the DAO qualifies as a controller as set out in Art.4 GDPR. That means that the DAO must, alone or jointly with others, determine the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.

Under GDPR, the DAO needs to appoint a data protection officer if the requirements set out in Art.37 GDPR are fulfilled. In case the DAO qualifies as a controller as set out in Art.4 GDPR, it is obliged to notify personal data breaches to the supervisory authority without undue delay (see Art.33 GDPR). As of now, this is the most likely relevant reporting obligation under GDPR.

To summarize, whether a DAO is required to appoint a data protection officer or comply with other data privacy reporting regulations depends on the circumstances of the given case and hence requires a particular assessment.