Article 11 — Processing which does not require identification

GDPR, Regulation (EU) 2016/679

What does GDPR Article 11 say?

Short answer, straight from the official text

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 …

Source: GDPR, Regulation (EU) 2016/679, read 2026-08-14.

Official text

Read from the EU Publications Office for this CELEX number. The wording stands as published; nothing here is rewritten or summarised.

Jump to a point: Point 1 · Point 2

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.

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Other articles in this chapter

• Article 5
• Article 6
• Article 7
• Article 8
• Article 9
• Article 10

The same rule in other acts

These articles carry the same official heading. The wording is not identical; read each text at its own source.

• EUDPR Article 12 — Processing which does not require identification

Who does this apply to

The register names five roles. Open a role to see the duties this act places on it, each row with its article and its source.

• Cloud service provider

Does this apply to us?

• Do ai governance rules apply to a cloud provider?
• Do personal data rules apply to a cloud provider?
• Do cross-border data rules apply to a cloud provider?
• Do cybersecurity rules apply to a cloud provider?
• Do health data rules apply to a cloud provider?
• Do online platforms rules apply to a cloud provider?

All roles in the register · All questions by role

The text is quoted from the official source and is not legal advice. A national court reads the language version that binds in its jurisdiction.

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Machine-readable summaries for AI agents: /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt.