The role of internal audit in supporting the implementation of the general regulation on data protection — Case study in the intermunicipal communities of Coimbra and Viseu

Based on the study already done on the subject of transparency in public services, as well as, taking into account the reading of academic work carried out and through the contribution of Municipalities that are certified by quality (ISO 9001: 2015) in the Intermunicipal Communities Region of Coimbra and Viseu Dão Lafões, it was intended to assess whether the internal audit could also, in this situation, add value in the implementation of the new General Regulation on Data Protection in these entities and in what terms. As far as the methodology was concerned, an inquiry was drawn up and the results obtained using descriptive statistics were analyzed. The conclusions pointed to the need to focus on the training of human resources and the relevance that the internal audit may have in meeting the requirements of the measures set forth in the new General Regulation on Data Protection. The major limitation of the study is related to the small sample. Regarding future research, after the period of implementation of the Regulation in the Municipalities, carry out its monitoring, in order to verify if there was added value with the contribution of the internal audit.