Difference between confidential & personal data: Definition & practice for public sector information

What are the definitions of confidential and personal data? How can you clearly differentiate between confidential/personal data from public sector information in practice?

Discussion

  • Personal data is 'any information about an identified or identifiable natural person'. The processing of personal data has to comply with the GDPR.
     
    Confidential information should be construed as information that cannot be (publicly) released either because of legal or administrative regulations ('national access regimes'), or because of contractual clauses (non-disclosure agreements).
     
    Both personal and confidential data are excluded from the scope of public sector information and should not be made available for re-use by public sector bodies.
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