Which principle is NOT part of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?

Informed consent is a term often associated with data protection and privacy, but it is not explicitly referred to as a standalone principle in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Instead, the GDPR encompasses broader principles regarding the processing of personal data, which include lawfulness, transparency, and fairness, storage limitation, and accountability.

Lawfulness, transparency, and fairness guide organizations in how they handle personal data, ensuring that data is processed legitimately and individuals are informed of how their data is used. Storage limitation requires that personal data be kept only for as long as necessary for its intended purpose, promoting responsible data management. Accountability emphasizes that data controllers and processors bear the responsibility for compliance with the principles of the regulation.

While informed consent is an important aspect of obtaining valid consent under the GDPR, it is part of the broader principle of lawfulness rather than a separate principle of itself. Therefore, recognizing that the actual principles laid out in GDPR do not include informed consent as a distinct category clarifies why it is the correct choice in this context.