The '''General Data Protection Regulation''' ([[Regulation (EU) 2016/679]]),<ref name="32016R0679">{{CELEX|02016R0679-20160504|format=PDF|text=Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation)}}</ref> abbreviated '''GDPR''', is a [[regulation (European Union)|European Union regulation]] on [[information privacy]] in the [[European Union]] (EU) and the [[European Economic Area]] (EEA). The GDPR is an important component of EU [[privacy law]] and [[human rights law]], in particular Article 8(1) of the [[Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union]]. It also governs the transfer of [[personal data]] outside the EU and EEA. The GDPR's goals are to enhance individuals' control and rights over their personal information and to simplify the regulations for [[international business]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9565-2015-INIT/en/pdf|title=Presidency of the Council: 'Compromise text. Several partial general approaches have been instrumental in converging views in Council on the proposal for a General Data Protection Regulation in its entirety. The text on the Regulation which the Presidency submits for approval as a General Approach appears in annex,' 201 pages, 11 June 2015, PDF|access-date=30 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151225181657/http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9565-2015-INIT/en/pdf|archive-date=25 December 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> It supersedes the [[Data Protection Directive]] 95/46/EC and, among other things, simplifies the terminology.
The [[European Parliament]] and [[Council of the European Union]] adopted the GDPR on 14 April 2016, to become effective on 25 May 2018. As an [[Regulation (European Union)|EU regulation]] (instead of a [[Directive (European Union)|directive]]), GDPR is directly applicable with force of law on its own without the need of [[Transposition (law)|transposition]]. However, it also provides flexibility for individual member states to modify (derogate from) some of its provisions.
