data subject
noun · betroffene Person
The data subject is the betroffene Person, the identified or identifiable natural person to whom personal data relate, embedded in the definition of Art. 4 Nr. 1 DSGVO. The literal calque Datensubjekt has no standing in German legal language; the fixed term is betroffene Person, the holder of the GDPR rights.
Which translation, when
Why
The data subject of the GDPR is the betroffene Person. The term is not free-standing but sits inside the definition of personal data in Art. 4 Nr. 1 DSGVO: personal data are any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, and that person is the betroffene Person. Identifiable means capable of being identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or factors specific to the person’s identity; only natural persons are covered, so companies are not betroffene Personen. The role matters because the betroffene Person is the holder of the rights of Kapitel III DSGVO, the right of access, to rectification, to erasure, to data portability and to object, and the addressee of the transparency and information duties. The translation point is small but constant: English legal writing says data subject, and the literal German calque Datensubjekt circulates in poor translations, but it has no standing in German legal language, where the fixed term of the authentic text is betroffene Person. The calque is not wrong enough to mislead a lawyer, but it marks the text as translated and can obscure cross-references to the statutory term. So the safe rendering is betroffene Person, with the adjective declined as the sentence requires, and the word natural kept in view where the source distinguishes individuals from companies.
Typical mistakes
- The fixed term of the authentic German text is betroffene Person, so the calque Datensubjekt has no legal standing and marks the text as translated.
- Only natural persons are betroffene Personen under Art. 4 Nr. 1 DSGVO, so extending the term to companies overstates the scope.
- The betroffene Person is the holder of the Kapitel III rights, so the term should stay aligned with the statutory cross-references.
What matters
Rendering a privacy notice or data protection clause, the translation should use betroffene Person for the data subject, decline it naturally in the sentence, and avoid the calque Datensubjekt, keeping the term aligned with the rights and duties that the regulation attaches to it.
What the machine misses
Machine output sometimes renders data subject literally as Datensubjekt, a calque with no standing in German legal language, or drifts to Betroffener without the statutory phrase. It can also blur that only natural persons qualify under Art. 4 Nr. 1 DSGVO. The rendering marks the text as translated and loosens the link to the rights of the betroffene Person.
Examples
| the rights of the data subject | die Rechte der betroffenen Person |
| the data subject has the right of access | die betroffene Person hat ein Auskunftsrecht |
| information to be provided to the data subject | Informationspflichten gegenüber der betroffenen Person |
| an identifiable natural person | eine identifizierbare natürliche Person |