EU regulatory register · GDPR
Article 4Definitions
CELEX 32016R0679 · Read on 2026-08-18 · Chapter I
Official text
Read from the EU Publications Office for this CELEX number. The wording stands as published; nothing here is rewritten or summarised.
For the purposes of this Regulation:
(1)
‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person;
(2)
‘processing’ means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction;
(3)
‘restriction of processing’ means the marking of stored personal data with the aim of limiting their processing in the future;
(4)
‘profiling’ means any form of automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning that natural person's performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements;
(5)
‘pseudonymisation’ means the processing of personal data in such a manner that the personal data can no longer be attributed to a specific data subject without the use of additional information, provided that such additional information is kept separately and is subject to technical and organisational measures to ensure that the personal data are not attributed to an identified or identifiable natural person;
(6)
‘filing system’ means any structured set of personal data which are accessible according to specific criteria, whether centralised, decentralised or dispersed on a functional or geographical basis;
(7)
The article continues in the official text.
Other articles in this chapter
Judgments of the Court of Justice
10 decisions
- C-710/23Court of Justice of the European Union
L. H. v Ministerstvo zdravotnictví
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Article 4 – Definitions – Article 6 – Lawfulness of processing – Article 86 – Public access to official documents – Data concerning the representative of a legal person – Case-law of a national court imposing an obligation to inform and consult the data subject prior to disclosure of official documents containing such data.
- C-638/23Court of Justice of the European Union
Amt der Tiroler Landesregierung v Datenschutzbehörde
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Article 4(7) – Concept of ‘controller’ – Direct designation of the controller by national law – Auxiliary administrative entity in the service of a regional government – Lack of legal personality – Lack of legal capacity of the entity’s own – Determination of the purposes and means of the processing.
- C-21/23Court of Justice of the European Union
ND v DR
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Chapter VIII – Remedies – Medicinal products marketed by a pharmacist on an online platform – Action brought before the national civil courts by a competitor of that pharmacist on the basis of the prohibition of unfair commercial practices for infringement by the pharmacist of the obligations laid down by that regulation – Standing to bring proceedings – Article 4(15) and Article 9(1) and (2) – Directive 95/46/EC – Article 8(1) and (2) – Concept of ‘data concerning health’ – Conditions for the processing of those data.
- C-461/22Court of Justice of the European Union
MK v WB
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Article 2(2)(c) – Scope – Exclusion – Purely personal or household activity – Article 4(7) – Controller – Former guardian who performed his or her duties in a professional capacity – Article 15 – Access of the person who has been placed under legal guardianship to data collected by that former guardian during the performance of his or her duties.
- C-604/22Court of Justice of the European Union
IAB Europe v Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Standard-setting sectoral organisation proposing to its members rules on the processing of users’ consent – Article 4(1) – Concept of ‘personal data’ – String of letters and characters capturing, in a structured and machine-readable manner, the preferences of an internet user relating to the consent of that user to the processing of his or her personal data – Article 4(7) – Concept of ‘controller’ – Article 26(1) – Concept of ‘joint controllers’ – Organisation which does not itself have access to the personal data processed by its members – Responsibility of the organisation extending to the subsequent processing of data carried out by third parties.
- C-740/22Court of Justice of the European Union
Endemol Shine Finland Oy
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Articles 2, 4, 6, 10 and 86 – Data held by a court relating to the criminal convictions of a natural person – Oral disclosure of such data to a commercial company on account of a competition organised by that company – Concept of ‘processing of personal data’ – National legislation governing access to those data – Reconciliation between the right of public access to official documents and the protection of personal data.
- C-33/22Court of Justice of the European Union
Österreichische Datenschutzbehörde v WK
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data – Article 16 TFEU – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Article 2(2)(a) – Scope – Exclusions – Activities which fall outside the scope of Union law – Article 4(2) TEU – Activities concerning national security – Committee of inquiry set up by the parliament of a Member State – Article 23(1)(a) and (h), Articles 51 and 55 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Competence of the supervisory authority responsible for data protection – Article 77 – Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority – Direct effect.
- C-231/22Court of Justice of the European Union
État belge v Autorité de protection des données
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Approximation of laws – Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation) – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Point 7 of Article 4 – Concept of ‘controller’ – Official journal of a Member State – Obligation to publish as they stand company documents prepared by companies or their legal representatives – Article 5(2) – Successive processing of the personal data contained in such documents by several separate persons or entities – Determination of responsibilities.
- C-683/21Court of Justice of the European Union
Nacionalinis visuomenės sveikatos centras prie Sveikatos apsaugos ministerijos v Valstybinė duomenų apsaugos inspekcija
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Article 4(2) and (7) – Concepts of ‘processing’ and ‘controller’ – Development of a mobile IT application – Article 26 – Joint control – Article 83 – Imposition of administrative fines – Conditions – Requirement that the infringement be intentional or negligent – Responsibility and liability of the controller for the processing of personal data carried out by a processor.
- C-807/21Court of Justice of the European Union
Deutsche Wohnen SE v Staatsanwaltschaft Berlin
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Article 4(7) – Concept of ‘controller’ – Article 58(2) – Powers of supervisory authorities to apply corrective measures – Article 83 – Imposition of administrative fines on a legal person – Conditions – Discretion of the Member States – Requirement that the infringement be intentional or negligent.
The text is quoted from the official source and is not legal advice. A national court reads the language version that binds in its jurisdiction.
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