Article 11 GDPR

← Article 11: Processing which does not require identification →
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 11: Processing which does not require identification

1. If the purposes for which a controller processes personal data do not or do no longer require the identification of a data subject by the controller, the controller shall not be obliged to maintain, acquire or process additional information in order to identify the data subject for the sole purpose of complying with this Regulation.

2. Where, in cases referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, the controller is able to demonstrate that it is not in a position to identify the data subject, the controller shall inform the data subject accordingly, if possible. In such cases, Articles 15 to 20 shall not apply except where the data subject, for the purpose of exercising his or her rights under those articles, provides additional information enabling his or her identification.

Relevant Recitals

Recital 57: Processing which does not require identification

If the personal data processed by a controller do not permit the controller to identify a natural person, the data controller should not be obliged to acquire additional information in order to identify the data subject for the sole purpose of complying with any provision of this Regulation.

However, the controller should not refuse to take additional information provided by the data subject in order to support the exercise of his or her rights.

Identification should include the digital identification of a data subject, for example through authentication mechanism such as the same credentials, used by the data subject to log-in to the on-line service offered by the data controller.

Recital 64: Measures to verify the identity of a data subject

The controller should use all reasonable measures to verify the identity of a data subject who requests access, in particular in the context of online services and online identifiers.

A controller should not retain personal data for the sole purpose of being able to react to potential requests.

Commentary on Article 11

(1) Processing which does not require identification

Article 11 regulates the processing of personal data that does not require the identification of the data subject.

Example: A controller wants to analyze the performance of one of its shops. This requires the collection of the aggregate purchases of customers, but not their identification.

In such cases, the controller is not obliged to acquire additional information in order to identify the data subject for the sole purpose of complying with the GDPR.

This also follows from the principles of minimization and necessity. These principles require controllers to de-identify personal data (through deletion, anonymisation, pseudo-anonymisation, etc.) as far as possible for their respective purposes.

(2) Legal consequences of the impossibility to identify the data subject

Under Article 11(2), if identification is not possible, Articles 15 to 20 do not apply, except where the data subject, for the purpose of exercising their rights under those articles, provides additional information enabling their identification.

GDPR still applies in part

Under the conditions of Article 11(1), Article 11(2) excludes the applicability of Articles 15 to 20. It follows that all other requirements of the GDPR that are not expressly excluded should remain applicable, including, but not limited to, security of processing (Article 32(1)) and the general principles of processing set out in Article 5.

Burden of proof

The controller must be able to demonstrate the impossibility of identifying the data subject.

The demonstration should provide a fair explanation of the reasons why the controller is unable to identify the data subject.

Due to the fairness and transparency principle (Article 5(1)(a)), generic or circular arguments ("Our systems are unable to identify your data") are too broad to meet the requirement of a proper demonstration.

Obligation to inform

Article 12(2) provides for a peculiar informative obligation ("Where [...] the controller is able to demonstrate that it is not in a position to identify the data subject, the controller shall inform the data subject accordingly, if possible").

Such an information, which is clearly different from information received under Articles 13 - 22 GDPR, seems particularly important as it allows the data subject to assess the allegedly non-identifying processing and, where they desire, provide additional information to enable their identification.

For this reason, the controller should provide tailored information and explain why, in particular, identification is not possible. Furthermore, in application of the principle of fairness in the processing of personal data, the controller should indicate in advance which data the data subject should provide for its (re)identification.

Obligation to accept and assess the additional information

If the data subject provides further information, the controller must receive it and, under Article 12(2), try its best to identify the data subject. The controller should also provide the data subject with a pre-defined description of what kind of additional information is needed to (re)identify the data subject.

In this regard, the Working Party 29 has already invited stakeholders "to elaborate, precisely with reference to Article 11 calls for proposals from the C-ITS WG on the concept of ‘additional information’ that can be provided in the context of this new service to make this provision effective".

Decisions

→ You can find all related decisions in Category:Article 11 GDPR