Research exceptions for database protection

Do any educational or research exceptions apply to the protection of databases?

The Dutch Databases Act (Databankenwet) includes an exception for making a substantial part of a database public under certain conditions. It follows from Article 5 of the Databases Act that, in the context of research or education, data should meet the following conditions:

• The data must have an illustrative purpose;
• The source must be stated;
• The use of the data must be justified by a non-commercial purpose.

If a database also contains personal data, it must also comply with the GDPR. If it concerns research, then the data may be used for research if this is not incompatible with the original processing purpose (Art. 5 and 9 GDPR). This data must then be pseudonymised as soon as possible.