The new European regulation on personal data protection: significant aspects for data processing for scientific research purposes

Aim The paper investigates the new European Data Protection Regulation released in 2016. It highlights the data protection principles inspiring the Regulation and outlines its main innovative as well as critical aspects as regards the use of personal data for research purposes. Results: As far as scientific research is concerned, the new Regulation provides some interesting novelties in relation to informed consent and to use of personal data without consent. Conclusion: It is still early for the consideration of the new Regulation, in relation to which the transition period before it definitively comes into force in 2018 will be useful for making a complete and detailed assessment of its adequacy. However, it is precisely with reference to the collection of retrospective personal data that the greatest innovations are seen. It will therefore be interesting to follow the interpretative evolution of the principle of compatibility of purposes which renders - in fact - personal data already collected usable, even in the absence of consent from the data subject.