What does the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) primarily protect?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) primarily focuses on the protection of personal data belonging to individuals within the European Union. It is a comprehensive legal framework established to govern how personal data is collected, processed, and stored, ensuring that individuals have greater control over their personal information.

The regulation encompasses a wide range of data types considered personal, which includes identifiers such as names, email addresses, and even more sensitive information like biometric data. GDPR mandates that organizations must obtain explicit consent from individuals for data processing and provides data subjects with rights such as access to their data, the right to request deletion, and the right to data portability.

Through this regulation, the EU aims to safeguard privacy, enhance consumer rights, and create a unified standard for handling personal data across member states, thus fostering trust in digital environments. This focus on individuals’ personal data distinctly differentiates GDPR from other options that address broader topics like company data management, intellectual property, or financial data.