Purpose Specification

The requirement that organizations identify and document the specific, explicit purposes for collecting and processing personal data before or at the time of collection, and communicate these purposes clearly to individuals. Purpose specification is a foundational element of purpose limitation and transparency principles. Purposes must be concrete and specific rather than vague or generic—stating data will be used "for business purposes" or "to improve services" without further detail is insufficient. Organizations should specify purposes such as "processing customer orders," "sending monthly newsletters to subscribers," "detecting and preventing fraud," or "complying with tax reporting obligations." Properly specified purposes enable individuals to understand and make informed decisions about data collection, allow evaluation of whether processing is necessary and proportionate, and provide a baseline against which future uses can be assessed for compatibility. Purpose specification should occur during the design phase of new processes or systems (privacy by design) and be documented in privacy notices, data processing records, and internal policies.