Privacy impact assessments analyze how new initiatives collect, process, store, and share personal information, identifying privacy risks and recommending mitigation measures before implementation. Required under GDPR and other privacy regulations for high-risk processing, PIAs examine data minimization, consent mechanisms, security controls, retention policies, and individual rights enablement. A healthcare app launch would assess patient data flows, encryption, access controls, and third-party sharing risks. Assessment findings inform design modifications, privacy notices, and accountability documentation for regulatory compliance. PIAs embed privacy-by-design principles, prevent costly post-launch remediation, and demonstrate proactive privacy governance to regulators and stakeholders.