On 1 July 2013, Amelia Andersdotter (Greens/EFA, Sweden) has asked the European Commission about what it intends to do regarding plans by Member States in Central and Eastern Europe to create data digitalisation system, and particularly about the security risk to patients’ data this undertaking might pose.
Vice-President Neelie Kroes (DG Communication) has answered on 29 August, acknowledging that eHealth solutions present an inherent risk to patients’ privacy. Whilst implementing such systems is the responsibility of Member States, Ms. Kroes states that the European Commission supports the “Privacy by Design” Principle, which has guided the provisions of the proposed General Data Protection Regulation.
Ms. Andersdotter is heavily involved in the work currently being done at EU level on the Data Protection Regulation. The question illustrates the increasing debate on access to data vs data protection, two linked issues which are both being given political priority.
The question and answer are available here.
