legitimate interest
noun · berechtigtes Interesse
The legitimate interest of the GDPR is the berechtigtes Interesse, the legal basis of Art. 6 Abs. 1 lit. f DSGVO with its three-step test of interest, necessity and balancing. The calque legitimes Interesse reads as everyday language and hides the term of art; and the ground is one of six equal bases, closed to public authorities in their tasks and always exposed to the objection of Art. 21 DSGVO.
Which translation, when
Why
Legitimate interest translates as berechtigtes Interesse, and the pair is fixed because the German words are the statutory text of Art. 6 Abs. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The machine-friendly calque legitimes Interesse says nearly the same thing in everyday German and precisely not the same thing in legal German: the reader no longer hears the legal basis, only an ordinary claim to be interested. The basis itself is a three-step test, and each step carries weight. The interest may belong to the controller or a third party and is read widely, commercial interests included; the processing must be necessary for it; and the balancing against the interests, fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject must not tip the other way, with the child expressly weighted in the wording. The steps are cumulative, the exercise is documented, and the controller bears the burden of showing it. Two fences complete the picture. Public authorities cannot use lit. f in the performance of their tasks, Art. 6 Abs. 1 UAbs. 2 DSGVO, so a governmental text resting on legitimate interests has left the ground the words suggest. And the ground ranks equal with the other five bases of Abs. 1: English drafting often treats legitimate interests as the default home of anything not covered elsewhere, while the German reader expects a documented balancing exercise of equal rank, not a lighter one. The exposure follows the ground: processing based on lit. f stands under the objection of Art. 21 Abs. 1 DSGVO, which reverses the burden, the controller must show compelling legitimate grounds that override, or stop; for direct marketing the objection is absolute, Abs. 2. So the safe rendering is berechtigtes Interesse, with the three steps, the fences and the objection kept attached to the term.
Typical mistakes
- Legitimes Interesse is everyday German, not the statutory term, so the legal basis of lit. f disappears behind ordinary language.
- Public authorities cannot rest processing on lit. f in the performance of their tasks, Art. 6 Abs. 1 UAbs. 2 DSGVO, so a governmental legitimate-interests clause misstates the available grounds.
- The ground is one of six equal bases and requires a documented balancing, so presenting it as the light default of the GDPR understates its demands.
What matters
A privacy notice or data-sharing clause resting on legitimate interests: the translation should say berechtigtes Interesse, keep the three-step test visible, and leave the objection right of Art. 21 DSGVO attached, absolute where the purpose is direct marketing.
What the machine misses
Automatic translation gives legitimate interest as legitimes Interesse, a phrase German lawyers read as everyday talk, not as the ground of Art. 6 Abs. 1 lit. f DSGVO; the term of art is berechtigtes Interesse. Losing it hides the legal basis of the processing, the documented balancing test that comes with it, and the objection right of Art. 21 DSGVO that attaches to precisely this ground.
Examples
| on the basis of legitimate interest | auf der Grundlage des berechtigten Interesses |
| the legitimate interests pursued by the controller | die berechtigten Interessen des Verantwortlichen |
| the balancing of interests | die Interessenabwägung |
| to object to the processing | der Verarbeitung widersprechen |