Advocate General's Opinion Signals A Pragmatic Approach To Pseudonymisation

On 6 February 2025, Advocate General Spielmann delivered his opinion in European Data Protection Supervisor v. Single Resolution Board¹. The opinion considers whether pseudonymised data is personal data in the hands of a third-party recipient who doesn't have the additional information to re-identify the individuals, and does not have the legal means to access that additional information. The opinion helpfully takes the view that such pseudonymised data should not automatically be considered personal data in the hands of the third-party recipient if the risk of re-identification is "non-existent or insignificant".

Background

In 2017, the Single Resolution Board of the EU ("SRB") put the Spanish bank, Banco Popular Español SA ("BP"), under resolution and it transferred BP's shares and capital instruments to Santander as part of a rescue package. Deloitte was subsequently appointed to consider whether BP's shareholders and creditors would have received better