---
title: "Recital 18 GDPR"
canonical: "https://dposchool.com/gdpr/recital/18"
source: "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679#rct_18"
source_note: "Source: Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Official Journal L 119, 4.5.2016, as corrected. Only the text published in the Official Journal is authentic. © European Union, https://eur-lex.europa.eu"
text_as_of: "2026-10-28"
last_reviewed: "2026-10-29"
language: "en"
publisher: "DPO School"
---

Recitals

# Recital 18

Text as of 28 October 2026 · [Reviewed by Sergio Maldonado Elvira on 29 October 2026](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/about#review)

## Official text

This Regulation does not apply to the processing of personal data by a natural person in the course of a purely personal or household activity and thus with no connection to a professional or commercial activity. Personal or household activities could include correspondence and the holding of addresses, or social networking and online activity undertaken within the context of such activities. However, this Regulation applies to controllers or processors which provide the means for processing personal data for such personal or household activities.

## Source

Source: Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Official Journal L 119, 4.5.2016, as corrected. Only the text published in the Official Journal is authentic. © European Union, https://eur-lex.europa.eu

[Recital 18 on EUR-Lex](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679#rct_18)

Text as of 28 October 2026.

This is reference material, not legal advice.

## Navigation

[GDPR Navigator](https://dposchool.com/gdpr) / [Recitals](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/recitals) / Recital 18

Previous: [Recital 17 GDPR](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/recital/17)

Next: [Recital 19 GDPR](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/recital/19)

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## For AI agents

- Machine-readable index: https://dposchool.com/gdpr/llms.txt
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