---
title: "Special category data"
description: "The GDPR Article 9 categories whose processing is prohibited unless a condition applies: data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, beliefs or union membership, and genetic…"
canonical: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/special-category-data
author: "Jorge García Aibar"
license: "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)"
doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197
version: "0.5.0"
updated: 2026-09-25
---

# Special category data

The GDPR Article 9 categories whose processing is prohibited unless a condition applies: data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, beliefs or union membership, and genetic, biometric (for identification), health, sex-life and sexual-orientation data [1]. AI can create it by inference.

- Developed in: [ch. 19, Special categories, inferred data and biometrics](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/privacy-and-ai#special-categories-inferred-data-and-biometrics)
- Chapters: [ch. 19, Privacy & AI](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/privacy-and-ai)
- Contrast with: [Inferred sensitive data](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/inferred-sensitive-data)
- In the glossary chapter: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/glossary#t-special-category-data

## Sources

[1] Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) (Arts. 4(1), 4(5), 4(7), 4(8), 4(12), 4(14), 5, 6, 9, 12(3), 22, 25, 28(2) and 28(4), 30, 33, 35; Recital 26). Publications Office of the EU (EUR-Lex). 2016-04-27. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj/eng (verified: primary)