Anonymization Between Minimization and Erasure: The Perspectives of French and Italian Data Protection Authorities

Two years after the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect, data anonymization remains one of the main issues linked to fragmentation in the Member States’ anonymization policies, in which regard stakeholders would like additional guidelines. In keeping with this premise, this article aims to analyze and compare trends in the implementation and enforcement of anonymization policies put in place by data protection authorities in two countries: France and Italy. This analysis makes it possible to trace the evolution of these policies and highlight their critical importance in applying the data minimization principle and in enforcing the right to erasure under Art. 17 GDPR.