Ministers OK New EU Rules for Cross-Border Transfer of Health Data
The Council of the EU Tuesday approved rules aimed at improving cross-border access to EU health data. The European Health Data Space (EHDS) regulation will give people better access to and control over their personal electronic health data while allowing certain data to be reused for research and innovation for patients' benefit, the Council said.
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The European Commission-proposed regulation is the first of nine sector- and domain-specific data spaces mentioned in the EC's 2020 European data strategy. The measure is subject to the EU General Data Protection Regulation, a Council spokesperson confirmed.
Under the new rules, people will have faster and easier access to electronic health data whether they're in their home country or another EU nation, the Council said. They will also have more control over how the data is used.
EU governments must now create a digital health authority to implement the rules. All e-health record systems will have to comply with the specifications of the European electronic health record exchange format, ensuring they are interoperable.
Once the Council and the European Parliament sign off on the regulation, it will be effective 20 days after publication in the EU's Official Journal.