Article 20 GDPR

← Article 20 - Right to data portability →
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 20 - Right to data portability

1. The data subject shall have the right to receive the personal data concerning him or her, which he or she has provided to a controller, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to another controller without hindrance from the controller to which the personal data have been provided, where:

(a) the processing is based on consent pursuant to point (a) of Article 6(1) or point (a) of Article 9(2) or on a contract pursuant to point (b) of Article 6(1); and

(b) the processing is carried out by automated means.

2. In exercising his or her right to data portability pursuant to paragraph 1, the data subject shall have the right to have the personal data transmitted directly from one controller to another, where technically feasible.

3. The exercise of the right referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be without prejudice to Article 17. That right shall not apply to processing necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

4. The right referred to in paragraph 1 shall not adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others.

Relevant Recitals

Recital 68: Data Portability - Article 20

To further strengthen the control over his or her own data, where the processing of personal data is carried out by automated means, the data subject should also be allowed to receive personal data concerning him or her which he or she has provided to a controller in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable and interoperable format, and to transmit it to another controller. Data controllers should be encouraged to develop interoperable formats that enable data portability. That right should apply where the data subject provided the personal data on the basis of his or her consent or the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract. It should not apply where processing is based on a legal ground other than consent or contract. By its very nature, that right should not be exercised against controllers processing personal data in the exercise of their public duties. It should therefore not apply where the processing of the personal data is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject or for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of an official authority vested in the controller. The data subject's right to transmit or receive personal data concerning him or her should not create an obligation for the controllers to adopt or maintain processing systems which are technically compatible. Where, in a certain set of personal data, more than one data subject is concerned, the right to receive the personal data should be without prejudice to the rights and freedoms of other data subjects in accordance with this Regulation. Furthermore, that right should not prejudice the right of the data subject to obtain the erasure of personal data and the limitations of that right as set out in this Regulation and should, in particular, not imply the erasure of personal data concerning the data subject which have been provided by him or her for the performance of a contract to the extent that and for as long as the personal data are necessary for the performance of that contract. Where technically feasible, the data subject should have the right to have the personal data transmitted directly from one controller to another.

Commentary

The purpose of the right to data portability is to give data subjects more control over their personal data by granting a certain type of 'ownership'. Another goal is to increase competition on the market allowing for a free movement of data between providers. It seems very relevant especially in such cases when one controller offers a higher level of protection of personal data than another within the same industry sector or across sectors.

The right to data portability complements the right of access (Article 15) by empowering users to receive a copy of their data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format. Users can decide what they want to do with such data and either store it on their computer, send it to another controller, or send it to another third party. The right to portability is not limited to the providers that offer similar or comparable services - it can be exercised with any controllers a data subject chooses under the conditions specified below.

Responsibilities of controllers

Data controllers which address portability requests ("sending controllers") act on behalf of a data subject and are responsible to:

• provide prior information about the existence of such a right (eg in the privacy notice) and clearly explain the difference between the right of access and the right to data portability;
• process the request without undue delay, within 1 month (up to 3 months);
• carry out authentication;
• set safeguards to ensure they genuinely act on the data subject’s behalf (eg ensure that they transmit the exact type of personal data that the data subject wants to transmit);
• in light of the principles set forth in Article 5(1) - ensure that the data transmitted is accurate and up to date;
• take all the security measures for transmissions.

The sending controllers are, however, not responsible for the processing handled by the data subject or by another company receiving personal data. "In this respect, the data controller is not responsible for compliance of the receiving data controller with data protection law, considering that it is not the sending data controller that chooses the recipient."

Data controllers which receive portability requests ("receiving controllers") have an obligation to:

• "clearly and directly" state the purpose of the new processing before they accept the request in accordance with the transparency requirements set out in Article 14 GDPR;
• process the request without undue delay, within 1 month (up to 3 months);
• ensure that the data they accept is relevant and not excessive for the intended data processing;
• delete the personal data which is not necessary to achieve the purpose of the new processing as soon as possible.

The receiving controllers can decide whether to accept and process data from a portability request.

(1) The right to receive and transmit personal data

The data subject can ask to transmit the data as long as the data controller processes it. This is to say that a controller cannot refuse a portability request only because the retention period is ending soon.

Material scope

The data subject may request the transmission of data that concerns him or her (ie not anonymous data) and that he or she provided to the controller. The data "provided" is the data that was actively given to the controller (eg photos uploaded to the service) or such which was "observed" by a controller (eg activity logs, food preferences etc).

(a) Legal basis for processing

The categories of data that can be requested are those processed either for the performance of a contract (Article 6(1)(b)) or to which processing a data subject gave his or her consent (Article 6(1)(a)). However, according to the Article 29 Working Party, it is a good practice to address portability requests also in such cases that do not explicitly provide for a general right to data portability, ie when processing is based on the legitimate interests or for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest.

(b) Processing by automated means

Another condition is that the personal data is processed automatically, therefore the data which is available eg only on paper and which is processed manually falls out of the data portability scope.

(2) The right to transmit personal data directly to another controller

The data subject can also ask the controller to send his or her personal data directly to another controller, if this is technically feasible. Controllers are therefore encouraged to use interoperable formats in order to facilitate such an exchange of personal data between each other. Companies may create sector-specific interoperable formats within an industry to allow for easier transmissions of personal data.

Data portability is supposed to facilitate the reuse of personal data concerning the data subject provided that the copy of the data should be transmitted in the defined format.

(3) The right to erasure

The exercise of the right to data portability is without prejudice to any other rights under the GDPR. Thus, if the data subject wants to delete his or her data from the controller's system (exercise the “right to be forgotten” under Article 17), the controller cannot justify its denial to erase such data by the data portability request.

(4) The rights of third parties

The portability request should not include any third party data if there is a likelihood that the new processing will adversely affect the rights and freedoms of the other data subjects. "Such an adverse effect would occur, for instance, if the transmission of data from one data controller to another, would prevent third parties from exercising their rights as data subjects under the GDPR."

The rights and freedoms are unlikely to be adversely affected if the receiving controller processes the data of other data subjects for the same purpose it was processed by the sending controller.

Decisions

→ You can find all related decisions in Category:Article 20 GDPR