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Guidelines on Anonymization : Adoption of the European Data Protection Board’s New Draft

On July 7, 2026, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted a draft of new guidelines on anonymization (“Guidelines”) [1].

These Guidelines aim to update Opinion 05/2014 of the Article 29 Working Party on anonymization techniques, in order to take into account developments “in the legal, privacy, engineering and technological landscapes”.

These Guidelines first reiterate that data is anonymous if it does not relate to an identified or identifiable natural person and, taking into account the CJEU judgment of September 4, 2025 [2], specify that the anonymous nature of data may vary depending on the entity conducting the analysis. The document also emphasizes that information may relate to a natural person if it is linked to that person due to its content, purpose, or effect, and that a person must be considered identified or identifiable when “they can be distinguished from other in a given context using means reasonably likely to be used and in a way that makes it possible to treat them differently.”

These Guidelines also propose a framework for assessing data anonymization, which may be based either on a “contextual approach”—involving verification of whether the data is anonymous for each entity concerned based on the means at its disposal—or on a “simplified approach” that does not take into account differences in the means that entities are reasonably likely to use.

In both cases, the framework for evaluating anonymization must use the following three criteria :

  • no record isolation ;
  • no linkage ;
  • no inference.

If all three criteria are met cumulatively, the data in question may be considered anonymous. If one or more of the criteria are not met, further analysis is required to determine whether the data can be considered anonymous.

The Guidelines are open for public consultation through October 30, 2026. To participate, click here.