Yes, Power BI sensitivity labels, fueled by Microsoft Purview Information Protection, can be an important part of GDPR and compliance with other data privacy regulations. Although they are not a full compliance solution by themselves, they enforce data classification, labeling, and protection policies, which are mandatory elements in data governance frameworks such as GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA.
To enable regulatory compliance with the aid of sensitivity labels in Power BI:
- Create a sensitivity label taxonomy (e.g., Confidential, Public, Personal Data) in Microsoft Purview that mirrors your organization's data classification policy.
- Use labels on datasets, reports, dashboards, and dataflows in Power BI to specify the sensitivity level of the data being consumed.
- Set up labels to incorporate protection settings like encryption, watermarking, or limiting sharing, exporting, and copying content
- Implement mandatory labeling rules for sensitive data types (e.g., PII) and apply label inheritance from sources such as Excel or SQL Server to preserve classification throughout the data lifecycle.
These practices assist in demonstrating accountability, implementing suitable access controls, and minimizing the risk of data exposure through unauthorized access—critical requirements of GDPR and comparable regulations. Yet, to achieve complete compliance, sensitivity labeling must be integrated with data retention policies, audit logging, role-based access control (RBAC), and incident response processes.
