Defines what kinds of processing the GDPR applies to — broadly, the automated or structured processing of personal data — and the narrow activities it does not cover.
Key points
- Applies to wholly or partly automated processing, and to manual processing of data held in a filing system.
- Does not apply to purely personal/household activity, or to law-enforcement and national-security processing covered by other instruments.
Official text & source
Article 2 of the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679). Read the full, authoritative text on EUR-Lex.
Official text
Verbatim text of Article 2 of the General Data Protection Regulation — Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
This Regulation applies to the processing of personal data wholly or partly by automated means and to the processing other than by automated means of personal data which form part of a filing system or are intended to form part of a filing system.
This Regulation does not apply to the processing of personal data:
in the course of an activity which falls outside the scope of Union law;
by the Member States when carrying out activities which fall within the scope of Chapter 2 of Title V of the TEU ;
by a natural person in the course of a purely personal or household activity;
by competent authorities for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, including the safeguarding against and the prevention of threats to public security.
1 For the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 applies. 2 Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and other Union legal acts applicable to such processing of personal data shall be adapted to the principles and rules of this Regulation in accordance with Article 98 .
This Regulation shall be without prejudice to the application of Directive 2000/31/EC , in particular of the liability rules of intermediary service providers in Articles 12 to 15 of that Directive.
Source: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1). Official text reproduced from EUR-Lex — © European Union. Only European Union legislation published in the Official Journal is deemed authentic.
Related articles
These summaries are a plain-English orientation only and are not a substitute for the official text of the Regulation or for legal advice.
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