Framing research under the GDPR

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We are less than a year away ( 25 May 2018 ) from full entry into the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), so authorities and legislators across the European Union are starting to give us greater guidance for this new era of data protection. 

For researchers, especially those in the private sector, key questions remain about how personal data collected for research purposes should be treated under the GDPR:

• Do research purposes offer a separate legal gateway for processing personal data?  
• Is commercial research treated the same as other scientific research? 
• How likely is there to be consistency across the EU?

GDPR sets up an EU-wide research regime

The GDPR research regime operates at both EU and national level, and applies to processing for archiving in the public interest, scientific, historical and statistical-research purposes. 

Across the EU, the Article 89 research provision expressly allows:  

• Broad consents for scientific research where consent cannot be secured ...