News

Campaign To Better Define The Scope Of Personal Data In GDPR

30 Sep 2026

The definition of personal data in the 1995 Data Protection Directive and was incorporated directly and without modification into GDPR,which entered into effect on 25 May, 2018.

Recognising that a definition set before the advent of internet and cloud processing age might no longer be fit for purpose, the Commission, in the Digital Omnibus proposal of November 2025, proposed to clarify how the much debated issue of “identifiability” of individuals should be determined.

This Privacy Next campaign supports efforts by the co-legislators to clarify the issue of “identifiability” and opposes counter-efforts, especially by the EDPB, to continue with an absolutist approach to the scope of personal data. This campaign is crucial to determining when the GDPR should or should not apply to data, as, clearly, data from which an individual or individuals cannot be identified, is no longer personal data and does not need to be protected in the same way.