Protecting "vital interests" refers to circumstances of life or death — in other words, where the processing of personal data contemplated is vital to an individual’s survival. For example, under the European General Data Protection Regulation, processing of personal data that necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person is one of the six legal bases for processing personal data. This criterion will be relevant only in rare emergency situations such as health care settings, humanitarian response, and law enforcement.