Article 7 GDPR

← Article 7: Conditions for consent →
Chapter 1: General provisions Article 1: Subject-matter and objectives Article 2: Material scope Article 3: Territorial scope Article 4: Definitions Chapter 2: Principles Article 5: Principles relating to processing of personal data Article 6: Lawfulness of processing Article 7: Conditions for consent Article 8: Conditions applicable to child’s consent in relation to information society services Article 9: Processing of special categories of personal data Article 10: Processing of personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences Article 11: Processing which does not require identification Chapter 3: Rights of the data subject Article 12: Transparent information, communication and modalities for the exercise of the rights of the data subject Article 13: Information to be provided where personal data are collected from the data subject Article 14: Information to be provided where personal data have not been obtained from the data subject Article 15: Right of access by the data subject Article 16: Right to rectification Article 17: Right to erasure (‘right to be forgotten’) Article 18: Right to restriction of processing Article 19: Notification obligation regarding rectification or erasure of personal data or restriction of processing Article 20: Right to data portability Article 21: Right to object Article 22: Automated individual decision-making, including profiling Article 23: Restrictions Chapter 4: Controller and processor Article 24: Responsibility of the controller Article 25: Data protection by design and by default Article 26: Joint controllers Article 27: Representatives of controllers or processors not established in the Union Article 28: Processor Article 29: Processing under the authority of the controller or processor Article 30: Records of processing activities Article 31: Cooperation with the supervisory authority Article 32: Security of processing Article 33: Notification of a personal data breach to the supervisory authority Article 34: Communication of a personal data breach to the data subject Article 35: Data protection impact assessment Article 36: Prior consultation Article 37: Designation of the data protection officer Article 38: Position of the data protection officer Article 39: Tasks of the data protection officer Article 40: Codes of conduct Article 41: Monitoring of approved codes of conduct Article 42: Certification Article 43: Certification bodies Chapter 5: Transfers of personal data Article 44: General principle for transfers Article 45: Transfers on the basis of an adequacy decision Article 46: Transfers subject to appropriate safeguards Article 47: Binding corporate rules Article 48: Transfers or disclosures not authorised by Union law Article 49: Derogations for specific situations Article 50: International cooperation for the protection of personal data Chapter 6: Supervisory authorities Article 51: Supervisory authority Article 52: Independence Article 53: General conditions for the members of the supervisory authority Article 54: Rules on the establishment of the supervisory authority Article 55: Competence Article 56: Competence of the lead supervisory authority Article 57: Tasks Article 58: Powers Article 59: Activity reports Chapter 7: Cooperation and consistency Article 60: Cooperation between the lead supervisory authority and the other supervisory authorities concerned Article 61: Mutual assistance Article 62: Joint operations of supervisory authorities Article 63: Consistency mechanism Article 64: Opinion of the Board Article 65: Dispute resolution by the Board Article 66: Urgency procedure Article 67: Exchange of information Article 68: European Data Protection Board Article 69: Independence Article 70: Tasks of the Board Article 71: Reports Article 72: Procedure Article 73: Chair Article 74: Tasks of the Chair Article 75: Secretariat Article 76: Confidentiality Chapter 8: Remedies, liability and penalties Article 77: Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority Article 78: Right to an effective judicial remedy against a supervisory authority Article 79: Right to an effective judicial remedy against a controller or processor Article 80: Representation of data subjects Article 81: Suspension of proceedings Article 82: Right to compensation and liability Article 83: General conditions for imposing administrative fines Article 84: Penalties Chapter 9: Specific processing situations Article 85: Processing and freedom of expression and information Article 86: Processing and public access to official documents Article 87: Processing of the national identification number Article 88: Processing in the context of employment Article 89: Safeguards and derogations relating to processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes Article 90: Obligations of secrecy Article 91: Existing data protection rules of churches and religious associations Chapter 10: Delegated and implementing acts Article 92: Exercise of the delegation Article 93: Committee procedure Chapter 11: Final provisions Article 94: Repeal of Directive 95: /46: /EC Article 95: Relationship with Directive 20: 02: /58: /EC Article 96: Relationship with previously concluded Agreements Article 97: Commission reports Article 98: Review of other Union legal acts on data protection Article 99: Entry into force and application

Legal Text

Article 7: Conditions for consent

1. Where processing is based on consent, the controller shall be able to demonstrate that the data subject has consented to processing of his or her personal data.

2. If the data subject's consent is given in the context of a written declaration which also concerns other matters, the request for consent shall be presented in a manner which is clearly distinguishable from the other matters, in an intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language. Any part of such a declaration which constitutes an infringement of this Regulation shall not be binding.

3. The data subject shall have the right to withdraw his or her consent at any time. The withdrawal of consent shall not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal. Prior to giving consent, the data subject shall be informed thereof. It shall be as easy to withdraw as to give consent.

4. When assessing whether consent is freely given, utmost account shall be taken of whether, inter alia, the performance of a contract, including the provision of a service, is conditional on consent to the processing of personal data that is not necessary for the performance of that contract.

Relevant Recitals

Recital 32

Consent should be given by a clear affirmative act establishing a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her, such as by a written statement, including by electronic means, or an oral statement. This could include ticking a box when visiting an internet website, choosing technical settings for information society services or another statement or conduct which clearly indicates in this context the data subject’s acceptance of the proposed processing of his or her personal data. Silence, pre-ticked boxes or inactivity should not therefore constitute consent. Consent should cover all processing activities carried out for the same purpose or purposes. When the processing has multiple purposes, consent should be given for all of them. If the data subject’s consent is to be given following a request by electronic means, the request must be clear, concise and not unnecessarily disruptive to the use of the service for which it is provided.

Recital 33

It is often not possible to fully identify the purpose of personal data processing for scientific research purposes at the time of data collection. Therefore, data subjects should be allowed to give their consent to certain areas of scientific research when in keeping with recognised ethical standards for scientific research. Data subjects should have the opportunity to give their consent only to certain areas of research or parts of research projects to the extent allowed by the intended purpose.

Recital 42

Where processing is based on the data subject’s consent, the controller should be able to demonstrate that the data subject has given consent to the processing operation. In particular in the context of a written declaration on another matter, safeguards should ensure that the data subject is aware of the fact that and the extent to which consent is given. In accordance with Council Directive 93/13/EEC a declaration of consent pre-formulated by the controller should be provided in an intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language and it should not contain unfair terms. For consent to be informed, the data subject should be aware at least of the identity of the controller and the purposes of the processing for which the personal data are intended. Consent should not be regarded as freely given if the data subject has no genuine or free choice or is unable to refuse or withdraw consent without detriment.

Recital 43

In order to ensure that consent is freely given, consent should not provide a valid legal ground for the processing of personal data in a specific case where there is a clear imbalance between the data subject and the controller, in particular where the controller is a public authority and it is therefore unlikely that consent was freely given in all the circumstances of that specific situation. Consent is presumed not to be freely given if it does not allow separate consent to be given to different personal data processing operations despite it being appropriate in the individual case, or if the performance of a contract, including the provision of a service, is dependent on the consent despite such consent not being necessary for such performance.

Commentary

Overview

Article 7 regulates the "conditions for consent". It specifies the definition of consent set out in Article 4 and, by integrating Article 6(1)(a), contributes in defining what legal requirements a valid consent should have. The provision also places the burden of proof on the data controller for the existence of consent.

Obligation to provide proof of consent (Article 7(1) GDPR)

Under Article 7(1) GDPR, the controller must demonstrate to have obtained a valid consent. However, there is no direct legal sanction linked to a possible violation. If, for example, the existence of an effective consent is disputed and the controller cannot provide evidence of this, it can be assumed that there is no consent.

Therefore, the controller bears the burden of proof for the existence of an (effective and valid) declaration of consent. This requirement leaves room for various forms of consent, although of course it only applies to those consent obtaining mechanisms which can be proven. Consent can be given through a clear, affirmative act (see Recital 32) in the form of a written, electronic or oral declaration. It is clear, however, that the stricter the intended form of consent is, the easier it will be to provide evidence about it.

Layout requirements in the case of connection with another matter (Article 7(2) GDPR)

The principle of separation laid down in Article 7(2) ensures that consent is truly informed (see Article 6(1)(a) GDPR) and not inadvertently given. To do so, Article 7(2) establishes layout requirements for the consent expressed in written form ("in the context of a written declaration").

Written form

The written form requirement is to be interpreted broadly. The electronic form is therefore at least also covered by this provision. Since data protection law is particularly important in a digital context and the regulation giver aimed to provide comprehensive protection for those affected, the provision can also be used in digital legal transactions.

Requirements

First, it should be "distinguishable" from other statements. Historically, consent has been interpreted as the action through which subject "A" authorizes subject "B" to perform a certain action "C". If the limits of the authorization are unclear, the consent cannot be valid. In data protection terms, this translates into a statement which clearly authorizes the controller to carry out a specific processing operation.

Second, it should be formulated in clear and simple language. This means that even users with poor reading skills due to a low level of education or lack of language skills can understand the text and consciously express their consent. The warning and information function applies also with regard to the legal consequences of consent. Making sure that consent forms are not bundled guarantees more control for the data subject when deciding to give consent.

Failure to meet the requirements

If any part of the statement (provided by the controller to the data subject) does not meet the above-mentioned requirements or anyway "constitutes an infringement of this Regulation [it] shall not be binding". In data protection terms, this may easily translate into a violation of the lawfulness principle (the claimed legal basis is not present --> Article 6(1)(a) GDPR) and should bring to the immediate deletion of all the data collected.

Right to withdraw consent (Article 7(3) GDPR)

The data subject can withdraw their consent at any time and should be made aware of this right before granting consent. Withdrawal should be as easy as giving it; however, the withdrawal will not retroactively affect any processing based on the consent prior to its withdrawal.

Requirements for the withdrawal

Article 7(3) clarifies that the withdrawal of consent must be as simple as the granting of consent. In the case of electronic declarations, revocation should be enabled via the same tool used to provide the consent. In this perspective, a technical challenge could be the development of a the appropriate revocation environment, especially if the person concerned does not have a user account through which he/she can adjust the privacy settings.

Consequences of withdrawal

The withdrawal has immediate effect and interrupts any consent-based data processing. The withdrawal ex nunc for future data processing. According to a certain interpretation, if the person concerned wants to delete the data, they have to submit a clear request in that sense under Article 17(1)(b) GDPR.

Free nature of consent (Article 7(4) GDPR)

The data subject must have a free choice and be able to refuse or withdraw consent without suffering disadvantages. Any potential imbalance of powers shall be analysed on a case by case basis. (See also Article 6).

Decisions

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