What principle stresses the need for the processing of personal data to be limited to what is necessary?

The principle that emphasizes the need for the processing of personal data to be limited to what is necessary is known as data minimisation. This principle is crucial in data protection and privacy laws, ensuring that organizations collect and process only the personal information that is essential for achieving a specific purpose. By adhering to data minimisation, organizations can reduce the risk of unnecessary exposure of personal data and enhance compliance with legal obligations.

This principle requires that personal data collected should be relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed. For example, if a business is collecting customer data for a specific service, it should only gather information that is directly needed to provide that service, avoiding the collection of extraneous data which may not be relevant.

The other principles mentioned, such as storage limitation, purpose limitation, and integrity and confidentiality, serve different aspects of data protection. While they are important for overall compliance and ethical data handling, it is the data minimisation principle that specifically focuses on limiting data collection and processing to what is strictly necessary, thereby supporting privacy and data protection efficiencies. This aims to balance the need for data use with the right to privacy, making it a cornerstone of responsible data management practices.