Publication on harmonization after the GDPR

GHGA member Prof. Dr. Fruzsina Molnár-Gábor and colleagues were instrumental in their recent comparative law publication with regard to clarifying questions around harmonization under the GDPR concerning health data and genetic data.

Background is the planned creation of a European Health Data Space, an EU-wide infrastructure for processing of personal data for healthcare and the enablement of its secondary use for scientific research purposes, with the aim of promoting exchange of and access to different types of health data. This requires the design of a specific legal framework, particularly with regard to data protection.

The article addresses the different implementations of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in four member states, including Germany, with regard to data sharing in various health-related contexts and evaluates the planned measures to build the European Health Data Space in light of further harmonization of member state laws.

The results of the analysis suggest that the deharmonizing effect of divergent member state rules significantly depends on the legal qualification of underlying EU provisions. Hence legal qualification can be the best guide for the choice of EU measures used as the framework for the European Health Data Space.

 

Molnar-Gabor, F., Sellner, J., Pagil, S., Slokenberga, S., Tzortzatou, O., & Nyström, K. (2021, December). Harmonization after the GDPR? Divergences in the rules for genetic and health data sharing in four member states and ways to overcome them by EU measures: insights from Germany, Greece, Latvia and Sweden. In Seminars in cancer biology. Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semcancer.2021.12.001