Article 20

Exemptions and restrictions 1. The Community institutions and bodies may restrict the application of Article 4(1), Article 11, Article 12(1), Articles 13 to 17 and Article 37(1) where such restriction constitutes a necessary measure to safeguard: the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences; an important economic or financial interest of a Member State or of the European Communities, including monetary, budgetary and taxation matters; the protection of the data subject or of the rights and freedoms of others; the national security, public security or defence of the Member States; a monitoring, inspection or regulatory task connected, even occasionally, with the exercise of official authority in the cases referred to in (a) and (b). 2. Articles 13 to 16 shall not apply when data are processed solely for purposes of scientific research or are kept in personal form for a period which does not exceed the period necessary for the sole purpose of compiling statistics, provided that there is clearly no risk of breaching the privacy of the data subject and that the controller provides adequate legal safeguards, in particular to ensure that the data are not used for taking measures or decisions regarding particular individuals. 3. If a restriction provided for by paragraph 1 is imposed, the data subject shall be informed, in accordance with Community law, of the principal reasons on which the application of the restriction is based and of his or her right to have recourse to the European Data Protection Supervisor. 4. If a restriction provided for by paragraph 1 is relied upon to deny access to the data subject, the European Data Protection Supervisor shall, when investigating the complaint, only inform him or her of whether the data have been processed correctly and, if not, whether any necessary corrections have been made. 5. Provision of the information referred to under paragraphs 3 and 4 may be deferred for as long as such information would deprive the restriction imposed by paragraph 1 of its effect. SECTION 7 CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY OF PROCESSING

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-27 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.