OneTrust Certified Privacy Professional Practice Exam 2026 – All-in-One Guide to Master Your Certification!

The concept of the "right to be forgotten" was introduced in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This regulation, which came into effect on May 25, 2018, established comprehensive data protection rights for individuals in the European Union. Under the GDPR, the right to be forgotten allows individuals to request the deletion of their personal data when it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, among other conditions. This puts significant power in the hands of individuals regarding their personal information and emphasizes the importance of consent and data privacy.

The other regulations mentioned do not encapsulate this specific right. The Data Protection Directive was an earlier framework that preceded the GDPR and did not explicitly include the right to be forgotten. The Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) focuses primarily on protecting the privacy of children under 13 in the online environment, and while it has stringent privacy requirements, it does not address the right to be forgotten. Similarly, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) relates to personal information handling by private sector organizations in Canada but does not contain a provision equivalent to the right to be forgotten that is found in the GDPR.