On July 7, 2026, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) adopted draft Guidelines 02/2026 on Anonymisation (“Guidelines”), updating a 2014 Opinion on Anonymization Techniques. While the EDPB maintains a cautious approach to anonymization, the new Guidelines appear to offer a more structured and practical framework for assessing whether information can be considered anonymous. The Guidelines are open for public consultation until October 30, 2026.
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European Parliament and Council Release Agreed Text on Data Act
By Dan Cooper, Marty Hansen & Shona O'Donovan on
On June 27, 2023, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a political agreement on the Data Act (see our previous blog post here), after 18 months of negotiations since the tabling of the Commission’s proposal in February 2022 (see our previous blog post here). EU lawmakers bridged their differences on a number of topics, including governance matters, territorial scope, protection of trade secrets, and certain defined terms, among others.
The Data Act is a key component of the European strategy for data. Its objective is to remove barriers to the use and re-use of non-personal data, particularly as it relates to data generated by connected products and related services, including virtual assistants. It also seeks to facilitate the ability of customers to switch between providers of data processing services.
We’ve outlined below some key aspects of the new legislation.
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