Purpose Specification Principle

The Purpose Specification Principle is

"[o]ne of the eight Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPs) developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). According to this principle, the purposes for which personal data are collected should be specified no later than at the time of collection and the subsequent use limited to the fulfillment of those purposes or such others as are not incompatible with those purposes and as are specified on each occasion of change of purpose."

Source
U.S. Justice Department, Justice Information Privacy Guideline - Developing, Drafting and Assessing Privacy Policy for Justice Information Systems, Glossary (Sept. 2002).