GDPR — Article 6

The article's text

Article 6
Lawfulness of processing
1. Processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that at least one of the following applies:
(a) 
the data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes;
(b) 
processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract;
(c) 
processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject;
(d) 
processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person;
(e) 
processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller;
(f) 
processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child.
Point (f) of the first subparagraph shfull textall not apply to processing carried out by public authorities in the performance of their tasks.
first subparagraph shall not apply to processing carried out by public authorities in the performance of their tasks.
2. Member States may maintain or introduce more specific provisions to adapt the application of the rules of this Regulation with regard to processing for compliance with points (c) and (e) of paragraph 1 by determining more precisely specific requirements for the processing and other measures to ensure lawful and fair processing including for other specific processing situations as provided for in Chapter IX.
to ensure lawful and fair processing including for other specific processing situations as provided for in Chapter IX.
3. The basis for the processing referred to in point (c) and (e) of paragraph 1 shall be laid down by:
(a) 
Union law; or
(b) 
Member State law to which the controller is subject.
The purpose of the processing shall be determined in that legal basis or, as regards the processing referred to in point (e) of paragraph 1, shall be necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller. That legal basis may contain specific provisions to adapt the application of rules of this Regulation, inter alia: the general conditions governing the lawfulness of processing by the controller; the types of data which are subject to the processing; the data subjects concerned; the entities to, and the purposes for which, the personal data may be disclosed; the purpose limitation; storage periods; and processing operations and processing procedures, including measures to ensure lawful and fair processing such as those for other specific processing situations as provided for in Chapter IX. The Union or the Member State law shall meet an objective of public interest and be proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued.
or the Member State law shall meet an objective of public interest and be proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued.
4. Where the processing for a purpose other than that for which the personal data have been collected is not based on the data subject's consent or on a Union or Member State law which constitutes a necessary and proportionate measure in a democratic society to safeguard the objectives referred to in Article 23(1), the controller shall, in order to ascertain whether processing for another purpose is compatible with the purpose for which the personal data are initially collected, take into account, inter alia:
(a) 
any link between the purposes for which the personal data have been collected and the purposes of the intended further processing;
(b) 
the context in which the personal data have been collected, in particular regarding the relationship between data subjects and the controller;
(c) 
the nature of the personal data, in particular whether special categories of personal data are processed, pursuant to Article 9, or whether personal data related to criminal convictions and offences are processed, pursuant to Article 10;
(d) 
the possible consequences of the intended further processing for data subjects;
(e) 
the existence of appropriate safeguards, which may include encryption or pseudonymisation.

Who wrote about this article in the consultations

Filers who named this exact article number in their own text. It is their sentence, not our reading — and not a causal claim.

business association

company

NGO

other

consumer organisation

Who	Country	What they wrote
VAUNET Verband Privater Medien e.V.	DE	se der Vor- rang eingeräumt werden sollte. Dies gilt vor allem im Verhältnis der Nutzereinwilligung nach Art. 6 Abs. 1 a) DSGVO und der Wahrung berechtigter Interessen nach Art. 6 Abs. 1 f) DSGVO. Entgegen dieser klaren gesetzlichen Ausgangslage ist in den fün ↗
European Centre for Certification and Privacy (ECCP)	LU	d unless one of the conditions of paragraph 2 of the same article is met, in conjunction with one of the legal bases described in Article 6 GDPR. ↗
AMICE - Association of Mutual Insurers and Insurance Cooperatives in Europe	BE	basis under Article 6(1)(f) in a way that is more streamlined and not unduly burdensome for organisations of all sizes. The legitimate interest legal basis is essential for organisations of all sizes and industry sectors to operate in the modern and ever more ↗
Bitkom e.V.	DE	the data access request is made by the user respectively data subject if this is not clearly indicated in such request. Article 6 (1) Data Act obliges a third party that has received the data from a user to delete the data made available to it pursuant to Arti ↗
Confederation of Swedish Enterprise	SE	ves qualify as processing of Art. 10 GDPR personal data that are not mandatory under EU or Member State Law, legal obligation per Art. 6 (1) (c) GDPR does not apply as a legal basis. As such, a permit is needed from the Swedish DPA but the permit needs legal s ↗
Coalition for Online Accountability	US	on globally for the safe operation of the internet, should not be filled with inaccurate or false data.  Clarification that GDPR Article 6(1)e applies to the collection, maintenance and disclosure of the WHOIS databases required under Article 28 of NIS2, sinc ↗
Spolek pro ohranu osobních údajů	CZ	l legal bases for processing for specific cases or adopt special legislation to allow more extensive use of the legal bases under Art. 6/1 (e) or (f) of GDPR. Unfortunately, so far, these regulations at most tighten the GDPR rules). ↗
Selbstregulierung Informationswirtschaft e.V. (SRIW)	DE	valuation determining in which cases the interest in continuing the processing prevails. In our view, a purposeful application of Art. 6.1 (f) GDPR in combination with a Code of Con- duct that specifies the categories in Art. 21.1 GDPR offers more effective pr ↗
Information Accountability Foundation	US	earch and business activities that make up knowledge creation and discovery should also be recognised as specific lawful bases in Article 6, subject to necessity and proportionally considerations. ↗
German Insurance Association	DE	to a specific person. → It should be clarified that the anonymization of data does not require a basis for permission pursuant to Art. 6 and, if applicable, 9 GDPR. So far, there is no clear legal basis for the training and testing of new IT applications and s ↗
EDRi European Digital Rights	ES	l category data, which can infringe on their data subject rights. This is an important concern when read in conjunction with GDPR Article 6(1)(f), which emphasises the particular rights of the child. On the other hand, the Irish DPA is among others that have t ↗
Intrum AB	SE	ounds The last point related to harmonization that Intrum would like to highlight is the use of different legal grounds stated in Article 6 of the GDPR, particularly the use of legitimate interest (f). Debt collection and related activities are typically perfo ↗
USTelecom - The Broadband Association	US	lict with other legitimate interests under EU law to the detriment of individuals. For example, we believe that the provisions in Article 6 of the GDPR would benefit from such a process in order to be consistent with the European Union’s Network and Informatio ↗
ACCIS	BE	ecessitate any special requirements. In fact, it can even be conducted under the legal basis of legitimate interest as defined in Article 6.1.f of the GDPR. ACCIS ACCIS represents the largest group of credit reference agencies in the world. ↗
Victim Support Europe (VSE)	BE	and the default implementation of Article 6(1)(a) as basis for data processing to the realm of Article 6(1)(c). If support entities are recognised as being of vital interest to the well-being of victims, their legal basis will adjust, acknowledging thereby the ↗
ZVEI e. V. - Verband der Elektro- und Digitalindustrie	DE	beitung im Sinne der DSGVO handelt oder die Anonymisierung zu- mindest einen eigenständigen Erlaubnistatbestand darstellt, der in Artikel 6 Absatz 1 DSGVO aufgenommen wird. Ferner sollte auch die Verarbeitung pseudonymisierter personenbezogener Daten weiter pr ↗
Global Data Alliance	BE	ata protection for EU data subjects – in foreign markets. As part of the GDPR review, we encourage the Commission to clarify that Article 6 of the GDPR recognizes that there is a lawful basis for third party business owners to access “Whois data” in order to e ↗
BDI e.V. (Federation of German Industries)	DE	usage) may not be based on one of the legal bases according to Art. 6 GDPR. No being limited to the purposes of Art. 6 GDPR for processing personal data, only and whenever personal data is strongly pseudonymized, can be crucial to develop new digitalized produ ↗
Gesellschaft für Datenschutz und Datensicherheit (GDD) e.V.	DE	von nutzergenerierten Daten von Vorteil. d) Einwilligung Die Anforderungen an die „Informiertheit“ bei einer Einwilligung i.S.d. Art. 6 Abs. 1 lit. a) DS-GVO ist konkretisierungsbedürftig und bedarf einer verständlichen Abgrenzung von der Informationspﬂicht i ↗
Verband Insolvenzverwalter und Sachwalter Deutschlands e.V.	DE	ected data subjects. Some data protection authorities consider it sufficient for certain data in the balancing of interests under Art. 6 No. 1 lit (f) and No. 4 GDPR to give data subjects the right to object to the transfer of their personal data, while others ↗
Shoosmiths LLP	GB	sing data which constitutes personal data without a valid legal basis, which is prohibited under Article 5(7) of the Data Act and Article 6 of the GDPR). ↗
Unipol Gruppo	IT	articular technologies. With this aim, it is fundamental to preserve the flexibility of the legitimate interest legal basis under Article 6(1)(f) in a way that is more streamlined and not unduly burdensome for organisations of all sizes. The legitimate interes ↗
FIBEP Event und Management GmbH	AT	alistic purposes and the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and information are considered legitimate interests under Article 6. 1 f) and further outlined in Article 85 GDPR. a) MMOs Data Set MMOs are handling personal data without explicit consent ↗
E.ON SE	DE	onymised personal data shall be permitted whenever a strong pseudonymisation method is applied, not only for predefined purposes (Art. 6, section 1) but also for other purposes such as developing new products. Consequently, binding recommendations of strong ps ↗
ICANN Business Constituency	US	aining such a database or EU or member state law does not enumerate specific requirements for processing. • Clarification of GDPR Article 6, to ensure that disclosure of domain registration data for the purpose of establishment, exercise or defence of legal cl ↗
Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer	DE	guarantees of the rule of law under Art. 47 (1) sentence 2 CFR, Art. 6 (1) sentence 1 (3) lit. c ECHR as well as Art. 20 (2) German Basic Law (Grundgesetz, GG), Art. 103 (1) GG. At the same time, in the context of legal advice, it is a prerequisite for the ful ↗
Confederation of European Security Services (CoESS)	BE	e in national rules on data storage limitations. These differ substantially across Europe and hinder, in some countries, 1 As per Article 6 of GDPR, processing of personal data is in any case lawful if it is (1) necessary for compliance with a legal obligation ↗
Deutscher Juristinnenbund e.V.	DE	intransparent und damit mangels einer „in informierter Weise“ abgegebenen Willensbekundung nicht von dem Erlaubnistatbestand des Art. 6 Abs. 1 lit. a) DSGVO gedeckt. Nutzer*innen können durch fehlende Transparenz sowie der steigenden Komplexität im Zusammenha ↗
Centre for European Policy	DE	be expressly clarified whether or not the provision of data by the data owner in accordance with Art. 3-5 Data Act is covered by Art. 6 para. 1 lit c GDPR (processing necessary to comply with a legal obligation). 4 Röhl, K.-H./Bolwin, L./Hüttl, P., Datenwirt ↗
Verband der öffentlichen Wirtschaft und Gemeinwirtschaft Österreichs (VÖWG)	AT	tung gem. Art 15 nicht darauf hinauslaufen kann, die vorhandenen Datensätze zur verändern, um die Vorgaben der DSGVO zu erfüllen. Art. 6 Abs. 1: In lit. e) oder f) wäre es anzudenken, ausdrücklich den Umstand der betrieblichen Notwendigkeit als Rechtmäßigkeits ↗

Source: public consultation submissions and position papers. n = 91 mentions; counted as a literal reference to the article number.

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