---
title: "Recital 2 GDPR"
canonical: "https://dposchool.com/gdpr/recital/2"
source: "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679#rct_2"
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 2

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

## Official text

The principles of, and rules on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of their personal data should, whatever their nationality or residence, respect their fundamental rights and freedoms, in particular their right to the protection of personal data. This Regulation is intended to contribute to the accomplishment of an area of freedom, security and justice and of an economic union, to economic and social progress, to the strengthening and the convergence of the economies within the internal market, and to the well-being of natural persons.

## 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 2 on EUR-Lex](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679#rct_2)

Text as of 28 October 2026.

This is reference material, not legal advice.

## Related articles

This list is under review.

- [Article 1: Subject-matter and objectives](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/article/1)
- [Article 2: Material scope](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/article/2)
- [Article 3: Territorial scope](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/article/3)

## Navigation

[GDPR Navigator](https://dposchool.com/gdpr) / [Recitals](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/recitals) / Recital 2

Previous: [Recital 1 GDPR](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/recital/1)

Next: [Recital 3 GDPR](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/recital/3)

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