Law No. 29-2019, special categories of personal data

Loi n° 29-2019, articles 4, 14 à 19 et 37 (catégories particulières de données et autorisation préalable)

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In force.

A sensitive categories rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 19 September 2026.

What it requires

Do not collect or process personal data revealing ethnic or regional origin, filiation, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, sex life, genetic data, or a person's state of health, unless one of the article 15 grounds applies.
Process genetic data itself only to verify a genetic link for a person's identification, or for the prevention or repression of a specific criminal offence, in the administration of proof in court.
Process personal data relating to offences, convictions, or security measures only if you are a court, a public authority, a legal person managing a public service acting within its legal remit, or a legal auxiliary acting for the strict needs of a mission the law entrusts to it.
Process personal data for health purposes only on one of the article 17 grounds, and collect health data from the data subject directly unless collecting it from another source is necessary for the processing's purpose or the data subject cannot supply it themselves.
Obtain the national commission's prior authorization before processing personal data bearing on genetic data or health research, offence, conviction or security-measure data, or biometric data.

What it reaches

Obligation class

Prohibition, Consent, Biometric, Licensing

What this law does

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.

Article 4 defines special categories of personal data as genetic data, data concerning minors, data relating to offences, criminal convictions or security measures, and biometric data, and reaches, so far as they are processed for what they reveal, personal data revealing ethnic origin, filiation, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, sex, or data relating to health or sex life.

Article 14 prohibits collecting or processing personal data revealing ethnic or regional origin, filiation, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, sex life, genetic data, or more generally data relating to a natural person's state of health.

Article 15 lifts that prohibition only where the data was manifestly made public by the data subject, the data subject gave written consent, the processing is necessary to protect vital interests, or it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim; genetic data itself may then be processed only to verify a genetic link for a person's identification, or for the prevention or repression of a specific criminal offence, in the administration of proof in court.

Article 16 confines processing of data relating to offences, convictions or security measures to courts, public authorities and legal persons managing a public service acting within their legal remit, and to legal auxiliaries acting for the strict needs of a mission the law entrusts to them.

Article 17 permits processing personal data for health purposes only on one of its listed grounds, including the data subject's consent, data the data subject manifestly made public, the protection of vital interests, a purpose fixed by or under the law, and the promotion and protection of public health, and Article 18 requires health data to be collected from the data subject directly, unless collecting it from another source is necessary for the processing's purpose or the data subject cannot supply it.

Article 37 requires the commission's prior authorization before processing personal data bearing on genetic data or health research, offence, conviction or security-measure data, or biometric data. Article 101 requires the Law's publication in the Journal Officiel de la République du Congo and its execution as law of the State, and it was signed at Brazzaville on 10 October 2019.

The Journal Officiel de la République du Congo published the Law in its No. 45-2019 issue of Thursday, 7 November 2019, and no provision of the Law defers its own entry into force to a later date.

When LexLint raises it

crawls_web
trains_models
processes_biometrics
handles_health_records

Read the law

Text of Law No. 29-2019
published in the Journal Officiel de la République du Congo No. 45-2019, reproduced by the Secrétariat Général du Gouvernement (sgg.cg)

Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.

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