EU law hampers sharing of health data for research, academies say

Impediments put EU leadership in health research at risk, academy associations warn

EU data protection laws are hampering the sharing of health data with researchers outside the bloc, and the problem is so severe that EU leadership in health research is at risk, according to three learned academy associations.

The implementation of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has “introduced impediments” to the transfer of data outside the European Economic Area, according to a joint report published on 8 April by the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council and the Federation of European Academies of Medicine.