Better outcomes could have been achieved in the EU's reform of data protection rules if the Parliament's proposals on health research had been followed, according to Jan Philipp Albrecht, its rapporteur in the discussions with the European Council.
The Parliament’s proposals would have resulted in greater harmonisation across Europe of the rules regarding the use of personal data for health research,something that health research organisations had said they wanted, Albrecht told Research Europe. In addition, it would have resulted in “less stringent” requirements for those researchers, he says.
One part of the Parliament’s proposal was that member state law could only provide exceptions on the need to obtain consent to use subjects’ data if there was a “high public interest”. This requirement was not included in the final text, which instead gives member states freedom to formulate their own legal exceptions.
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