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Part 3 — Lawfulness & Key Actors
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Reviewed 2026-08-23
Legitimate Interests & The Balancing Test (LIA) (Art. 6.1.f)
Legitimate Interests & Balancing Test (Art. 6.1.f)
⚡ In 30 seconds
Under Article 6(1)(f), processing is lawful where it is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject, in particular where the data subject is a child.
| LIA Test Stage | Assessment Criteria | Legal Standard |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Purpose Test | Is the pursued interest real, lawful, sufficiently specific, and legitimate? | Network security, fraud prevention, corporate asset recovery, direct B2B marketing. |
| 2. Necessity Test | Is processing strictly necessary? Can the objective be achieved with less intrusive means? | If less intrusive alternatives (anonymisation, aggregated stats) exist, the test fails. |
| 3. Balancing Test | Do individual rights, interests, and reasonable expectations override the controller's interest? | Assessment of power imbalance, sensitivity of data, vulnerability, and safeguards deployed. |