UK GDPR key definitions with DPA 2018 and DUAA 2025: personal data, special category and biometric data, criminal offence data, controllers and processors, processing, profiling and research

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Practice notes

This Practice Note offers additional guidance on the principal definitions found in the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation, Assimilated Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the UK GDPR). For a high-level overview of UK data protection legislation, see Practice Notes: The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data protection law—new starter guide. The UK data protection law collection brings together further general guidance and is a recommended first point of reference for research.

Scope of this Practice Note

Given the significant volume of data moving between the UK and the EEA, corresponding EEA data protection rules remain particularly relevant to UK practitioners. There continues to be substantial similarity between:

the EU GDPR (which was applicable under UK laws until the close of the Brexit implementation period at 11 pm UK time on 31 December 2020 and still applies within the EEA)
the UK GDPR (which has applied under UK laws from the end of the Brexit implementation period and is largely derived from the EU GDPR)

Nevertheless, the emphasis of this Practice Note is the UK GDPR. For further detail on key definitions under the EU GDPR, see Practice Note: Key definitions under EU data protection law...

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Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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