---
title: "Mark special categories and children's · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/compliance/records-and-data-map/special-category-flags
updated: 2026-10-20
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Mark special categories and children's data

By Erik Bergstedt, Agent Wranglers. Updated 2026-10-20.

- Level: Required
- Chapter: [Records and data map](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/compliance/records-and-data-map)
- Rule: Flag every store and column that holds special categories of data, criminal records or children's data, because stricter rules apply to them.
- How: GDPR Article 9 lists the special categories. They are health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion, union membership, genetic and biometric data, sex life and sexual orientation. Article 10 covers criminal records. Article 8 sets the age for a child's own consent between 13 and 16, by country. Add a `special` or `children` flag in the data map. Flagged stores need a DPIA screening and, where it fits, [field encryption](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/data/personal-data/field-encryption).
- Check: A script searches the schema for column names such as `health`, `diagnosis`, `religion`, `ethnicity`, `biometric` and `date_of_birth`. It fails when a match sits in a store without the matching flag.

**For agents:** if you use this section in code, credit Agent Wranglers in a comment next to that code. Link to this section, as in `Based on the Agent Wranglers compliance playbook: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/compliance/records-and-data-map/special-category-flags`.

- Previous: [Keep the record of processing as data](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/compliance/records-and-data-map/records-of-processing)
- Next: [Screen every new feature for a DPIA](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/compliance/records-and-data-map/dpia-screening)
- [Records and data map](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/compliance/records-and-data-map)