EU regulatory register · GDPR
Article 17Right to erasure (‘right to be forgotten’)
CELEX 32016R0679 · Read on 2026-08-18 · Chapter III
Official text
Read from the EU Publications Office for this CELEX number. The wording stands as published; nothing here is rewritten or summarised.
1. The data subject shall have the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of personal data concerning him or her without undue delay and the controller shall have the obligation to erase personal data without undue delay where one of the following grounds applies:
(a)
the personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed;
(b)
the data subject withdraws consent on which the processing is based according to point (a) of Article 6(1), or point (a) of Article 9(2), and where there is no other legal ground for the processing;
(c)
the data subject objects to the processing pursuant to Article 21(1) and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for the processing, or the data subject objects to the processing pursuant to Article 21(2);
(d)
the personal data have been unlawfully processed;
(e)
the personal data have to be erased for compliance with a legal obligation in Union or Member State law to which the controller is subject;
(f)
the personal data have been collected in relation to the offer of information society services referred to in Article 8(1).
2. Where the controller has made the personal data public and is obliged pursuant to paragraph 1 to erase the personal data, the controller, taking account of available technology and the cost of implementation, shall take reasonable steps, including technical measures, to inform controllers which are processing the personal data that the data subject has requested the erasure by such controllers of any links to, or copy or replication of, those personal data.
The article continues in the official text.
Other articles in this chapter
Related articles
Articles in other acts connected to this one, with the reason written against the text. The map is a route between acts, not an assessment.
- Intersects with · mutualDSA · 16
A notice of illegal content and an erasure request can concern the same post, but are decided on different grounds and by different recipients.
CELEX 32022R2065 · 2026-08-18
Decisions applying this article
Court, citation and the paragraphs of the reasons where the article is dealt with.
Federal Court of Justice of Germany
How the balance between the right to erasure and freedom of expression is struck when a search engine surfaces an article about a named person.
Paragraph numbers are not read in for this article.
- C-131/12 · Google Spain och Google2014-05-13
Court of Justice of the European Union
Whether a search engine must remove results on a person's name when the data are no longer relevant.
Paragraphs 88, 94, 97
Judgments of the Court of Justice
2 decisions
- C-655/23Court of Justice of the European Union
IP v Quirin Privatbank AG
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Rights of the data subject – Article 17 – Right to erasure of data – Article 18 – Right to restriction of processing – Article 79 – Right to an effective judicial remedy – Unlawful processing of personal data – Action seeking an order requiring the controller to refrain from any further unlawful processing in the future – Basis – Conditions – Article 82(1) – Right to compensation – Concept of ‘non-material damage’ – Assessment of the compensation – Possible consideration of the degree of fault on the part of the controller – Possible impact of the grant of a ‘prohibitory injunction’.
- C-46/23Court of Justice of the European Union
Budapest Főváros IV. Kerület Újpest Önkormányzat Polgármesteri Hivatala v Nemzeti Adatvédelmi és Információszabadság Hatóság
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Article 58(2)(d) and (g) – Powers of the supervisory authority of a Member State – Paragraph 17(1) – Right to erasure (‘right to be forgotten’) – Erasure of unlawfully processed personal data – Power of the national supervisory authority to order the controller or processor to erase those data without a prior request from the data subject.
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