The Protection of Genetic Data under the General Data Protection regulation

Zusammenfassung

The present article presents an overview of the legal background introduced by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with regard to the protection of genetic data. The aim of this article is to critically examine the definition of the term “genetic data” provided by the General Data Protection Regulation in order to achieve a better understanding of the protection afforded to this special category of personal data by the Regulation. The article offers an overview of the parts of such definition that the author considers “problematic” and summarizes the questions raised by the General Data Protection regulation’s approach to the protection of genetic data. The main objective of this article is therefore, to contribute to a wider debate that would address the identified challenges and bring us closer to finding viable ways of protecting this unique category of personal data.