The seven principles, at a glance

Article 5 of the UK GDPR sets out seven principles. They are not a checklist you complete once, they are the standard every processing activity must meet, all the time.

• Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
• Purpose limitation
• Data minimisation
• Accuracy
• Storage limitation
• Integrity and confidentiality (security)
• Accountability

The first six describe how you must treat data. The seventh, accountability, means you must be able to demonstrate compliance with the other six, not just claim it.