Abstract
This paper critically re-examines the concepts of anonymisation and, in particular, “identification” as they are used in the European legal framework for data protection. It argues that loose or inconsistent definitions of these terms create uncertainty for researchers and data custodians about when data are genuinely anonymous. By clarifying the relationship between the legal notion of identifiability and the technical reality of re-identification risk, the authors set out conceptual groundwork that sound anonymisation practice must satisfy. Published in Biopreservation and Biobanking, it is especially relevant to biobanks and health-research data sharing.
anonymization identification data protection law European legal framework