Methods, systems and computer program products for automatically enforcing obligations in accordance with a data-handling policy are disclosed. Requests by users for accessing data stored in a data repository are intercepted. A determination is made whether any obligations apply to each data item requested in accordance with the data handling policy. The determination may relate to whether rules having associated obligations identified in the data-handling policy apply to data items requested by a user. The obligations are automatically executed at an appropriate time after access of the data. Association of a data item requested by the user with an obligation may be recorded and tracked to determine the appropriate time for executing the obligation.