Opinion of Advocate General Szpunar delivered on 4 September 2025.#CL v Prokuratura na Republika Bulgaria.#Request for a preliminary ruling from the Sofiyski rayonen sad.#Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data in criminal matters – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Directive (EU) 2016/680 – Scope – Processing of data collected in the course of an investigation against a police officer as a person suspected of a criminal offence – Recording of data relating to this investigation in the police officer’s personnel file – Lawfulness of processing – Point (c) of the first subparagraph of Article 6(1) and Article 6(3) of that regulation – Processing necessary for compliance with a legal obligation – Legal basis for the processing – Article 17 of that regulation