Purpose of Processing

The specific reason or objective for which personal data is collected and used, which must be identified and documented before processing begins. Under data protection principles, purposes must be specified, explicit, and legitimate (GDPR Article 5(1)(b)). Organizations must be clear about what they intend to do with data and cannot be vague or open-ended in defining purposes. Examples of purposes include: fulfilling contractual obligations (processing orders, providing services), complying with legal requirements (tax reporting, regulatory compliance), pursuing legitimate business interests (fraud prevention, system security), or obtaining consent for specific uses (marketing communications, data sharing). Each processing operation should be tied to one or more defined purposes, and organizations should collect only data necessary for those purposes. The purpose forms the foundation for assessing lawfulness, necessity, and proportionality of processing. It must be communicated to data subjects through privacy notices, and organizations must respect purpose limitation—not using data for purposes incompatible with those originally specified.