Jurisdiction(s):
European Union

Anonymisation and pseudonymisation under the EU GDPR: legal tests, case law, WP29 three risks, techniques, PETs and Schrems II supplementary measures

Published by a LexisNexis EU Law expert

Practice notes

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This Practice Note sets out the law as it presently stands, though some aspects will be affected by the Digital Omnibus proposals issued on 19 November 2025 under the EU Commission’s ‘simplification’ programme. For more detail, see Practice Note: EU Digital Omnibus—tracker. It explores legal and practical issues around anonymisation, pseudonymisation and privacy enhancing technologies (PETs). It outlines what is required for robust anonymisation and pseudonymisation and summarises core techniques available. It further introduces the family of tools referred to as PETs. The analysis is framed by the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (EU GDPR), alongside relevant guidance.

Anonymisation and pseudonymisation

Under the EU GDPR, duties apply to the processing of ‘personal data’, meaning information about a living person who is identified or can be identified. While the EU GDPR provides no explicit definition of ‘anonymous data’, by inference it is data that is no longer personal because it no longer relates to an identified or identifiable person. Effective anonymisation therefore removes data from the scope of the EU GDPR...

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Heather Catchpole

Bird & Bird

Heather is an associate in Bird & Bird’s London-based Privacy & Data Protection team and advises on a broad range of data protection and ePrivacy questions faced by businesses.Heather advises on marketing rules, cookies, DPIAs, and the implementation of innovative technologies, and has experience drafting data protection provisions in commercial contracts and advising on data protection risks in an M&A context. Heather has worked with businesses in a range of sectors including sport, media & entertainment, video gaming, and retail & consumer.Heather has a particular interest in Adtech, children’s privacy, and the intersection between UI design and data protection law. She also enjoys advising on the interaction between data protection and the new digital legislation we are seeing in the EU and UK such as the DMA, DSA, and Online Safety Bill.Prior to joining Bird & Bird Heather spent four years in the IP/IT and data...

Alex Jameson

Bird & Bird

I am a senior associate in Bird & Bird’s Privacy and Data Protection Group, based in London. I work with UK and international clients across a variety of sectors on a wide range of data protection and e-privacy issues.My experience covers all aspects of information law: from the GDPR, to ePrivacy and Freedom of Information. I enjoy finding practical solutions to difficult questions: be that building a data protection compliance programme within a difficult culture, advising on grey spaces like on-device processing and biometrics, or just finding a calm way to manage stressful moments such as security incidents.I work with all kinds of organisations, but have a particular interest in matters involving AI and new technologies.Separately, I have particular experience working on HR data and employment-adjacent privacy matters.Before joining Bird & Bird, I spent over six years at another private practice firm where I...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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