§ 40 DSG NRW
Processing for scientific or statistical purposes
(1)Personal data may be processed in scientific or statistical form within the scope of the purposes referred to in Section 35 where there is a public interest in doing so and appropriate safeguards for the rights of the data subjects are provided. Such safeguards may consist in the anonymisation of the personal data at the earliest possible time, in precautions against unauthorised access by third parties, or in the processing of personal data separately from other specialist tasks in terms of location and organisation.