AI Regulation Tracker / Guidelines adopted
EDPB Adopts Guidelines 03/2026 on Web Scraping for Generative AI Training
Regulatory summary: On July 8, 2026, the European Data Protection Board adopted Guidelines 03/2026 on web scraping for generative AI, plus companion anonymisation guidelines. GDPR applies to scraped personal data even when publicly visible. The guidelines are open to public consultation until October 30, 2026.
Europe's data-protection regulators just told AI builders that "publicly available" is not a legal basis to scrape people's data.
Key takeaways
- What changed: the EDPB states plainly that GDPR governs web scraping whenever it touches personal data, that public visibility is not consent or a legal basis, and that special-category scraping is in principle prohibited absent both an Article 6 basis and an Article 9(2) exception.
- The sharpest operational point: sensitive data may be swept up only if the controller takes active measures before, during and after the scrape to keep it out, which is close to a working prohibition for anyone who has not built filtering into the pipeline.
- Reach: the guidance covers organizations that buy pre-collected scraped datasets as well as those that crawl the web themselves, so a US developer cannot sidestep the analysis by purchasing a corpus.
- Who it affects: AI and ML engineering teams, data-protection officers, privacy and compliance counsel, MarTech and data vendors, and any regulated firm building or procuring generative AI trained on web data.
- Status: adopted July 8, 2026 at the EDPB plenary in Brussels, published as Version 1.0 with Sweden's IMY as lead rapporteur, and open for public consultation until October 30, 2026.
- Next step: inventory every scraped dataset feeding your models, attach an Article 6 basis and legitimate-interest assessment to each, and file consultation comments before October 30, 2026 if the guidance affects your pipeline.
What did the EDPB actually adopt?
On July 8, 2026 the European Data Protection Board adopted Guidelines 03/2026 on web scraping in the context of generative AI, published as Version 1.0 for public consultation. The guidance is the first from the Board that deals directly with the practice of harvesting public web data to build and train generative models. Sweden's data protection authority, IMY, served as lead rapporteur, which means the Swedish regulator ran the drafting, but the instrument itself is an EU-level text that all 27 data protection authorities signed off on at the Brussels plenary.
That authorship still matters for anyone outside Europe, because the national supervisor that writes the text tends to set the tone for the enforcement that follows. IMY confirmed the adoption the same day and opened the document for feedback until October 30, 2026. The guidance sits alongside a companion set of anonymisation guidelines, Guidelines 02/2026, also out for consultation, and a finalized set on blockchain that the Board adopted at the same plenary.
One point the guidance makes early is reach. It applies both to organizations that scrape data themselves and to those that buy pre-collected datasets from a vendor. A US developer cannot sidestep the analysis by purchasing a scraped corpus rather than gathering it, because the buyer inherits the same obligations as a controller under the General Data Protection Regulation.
When can legitimate interest justify scraping for AI training?
Most large-scale scraping cannot realistically rest on consent, so developers have leaned on legitimate interest under Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR. The EDPB does not close that door, but it narrows the frame. Guidelines 03/2026 give clarifications and worked examples on how the legitimate-interest basis applies to scraping for AI training, and they treat it as a test the controller has to pass and document, not a label to attach after the fact.
The Board also flags data minimisation as a principle that is particularly hard to satisfy when scraping at web scale, since indiscriminate collection is the opposite of what the principle asks for. Rather than leave that as an abstraction, the guidance advises on concrete measures a controller should put in place so that a scrape collects what the stated purpose needs and not the entire open web. For teams used to grabbing everything and sorting it out later, that is a change in sequence: the filtering logic has to exist before the crawl runs.
What happens when scraping sweeps up sensitive data?
This is the part with teeth. The GDPR treats special categories of personal data, which include health, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political opinions and religious belief, as prohibited to process in principle under Article 9. The EDPB is blunt that there is no general exemption from Article 9 for AI training. If a scrape involves special-category data, the controller needs both a lawful basis under Article 6 and a separate exception under Article 9(2).
The Board then leans on the Court of Justice ruling in GC & Others (C-136/17). It suggests that the Court's reasoning may allow for the incidental or residual collection of special-category data during scraping, but only where the controller acts within the framework of its responsibilities, powers and capabilities and puts appropriate technical and organizational measures in place to prevent that data from being collected and spread. IMY describes the same condition plainly: sensitive data may be scraped only if the organization takes a set of measures before, during and after the web scraping.
Read together, that is close to a working prohibition unless a developer builds active filtering into the pipeline. Before the scrape means excluding sources and categories likely to surface sensitive data. During the scrape means detection and suppression as data flows in. After the scrape means validating the dataset and removing sensitive records before anything reaches training. The Board adds that there is no blanket pass here and that each case has to be assessed on its own facts to see whether the Court's logic actually fits.
What developers and data buyers should do before October 30
The immediate value of this document is that it converts a long-running argument into something a compliance team can act on. A firm training on EU personal data now has a checklist it lacked a week ago. Write the legitimate-interest assessment down. Show the data-minimisation choices that shaped the crawl. Document the three-stage controls for special-category data, and keep the evidence that they ran. Timestamp and validate your sources, and keep the transparency notices that the GDPR already requires.
Because the text is in consultation until October 30, 2026, it can still shift, and the comment window is a chance to push back on parts that read as unworkable at frontier scale. It is not binding law, and the fines that attach to the GDPR itself sit behind it rather than inside it. Even so, treating Version 1.0 as the standard your pipeline will be measured against is the safer bet, since the final text rarely softens the direction a first draft sets.
| Date | Jurisdiction | Rule | Affected professionals | Status or effective date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-09 | European Union | The EDPB states plainly that GDPR governs web scraping whenever it touches personal data, that public visibility is not consent or a legal basis, and that special-category scraping is in principle prohibited absent both an Article 6 basis and an Article 9(2) exception. | AI and ML engineering teams, data-protection officers, privacy and compliance counsel, MarTech and data vendors, and any regulated firm building or procuring generative AI trained on web data. | Adopted July 8, 2026 at the EDPB plenary in Brussels; released as a draft final version for public consultation. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these EDPB guidelines legally binding right now?
They are interpretive guidelines, not new legislation, and they are still in draft-final form open for consultation until October 30, 2026. However, the GDPR obligations they interpret, on lawfulness, transparency, and accuracy, are already binding, so the practical expectations apply today.
Can we scrape publicly available data without consent?
Public visibility is not consent and not a legal basis. You still need a valid Article 6 basis, usually legitimate interest supported by a documented balancing test, and you must meet transparency and accuracy duties.
What happens if scraped data includes special-category information?
Processing special categories is in principle prohibited. You need both an Article 6 legal basis and an Article 9(2) exception, which mass scraping rarely satisfies, so treat broad special-category scraping as presumptively unlawful.
Does anonymising a dataset let us skip GDPR?
Only if re-identification is not reasonably possible by any likely means. Pseudonymised or weakly de-identified data is still personal data, so the companion Guidelines 02/2026 set a high bar before GDPR stops applying.
We buy scraped datasets rather than scraping ourselves. Are we covered?
No. Buying or using a scraped dataset is still processing personal data, so you inherit controller duties. You need to verify the legal basis, provenance, and special-category filtering of any dataset before feeding it to a model.
What does the before, during and after filtering requirement mean in practice?
Before the scrape means excluding sources and categories likely to surface sensitive data. During the scrape means detection and suppression as data flows in. After the scrape means validating the dataset and removing sensitive records before anything reaches training. The EDPB leans on the Court of Justice ruling in GC and Others (C-136/17), which may allow incidental collection only where those technical and organizational measures are genuinely in place, and it stresses that each case has to be assessed on its own facts.
What is the single most useful step to take now?
Produce a written legitimate-interest assessment and a documented before, during and after filtering plan for sensitive data, then map your existing scraping or data-buying pipeline against them before the October 30, 2026 consultation closes.
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Informational analysis for working professionals, not legal advice. Confirm how any rule applies to your situation with qualified counsel.