Considering the ongoing political discussions, the BioMed Alliance has published a new statement on suggestions to introduce an opt-out model in the European Health Data Space (EHDS) proposal. BioMed Alliance believes that an opt-out model could be an appropriate way forward, if certain conditions are fulfilled to ensure it does not become a barrier to life-saving health research.

The discussions on the European Health Data Space (EHDS) proposal are continuing and there are diverging views in the Parliament on the model through which the secondary use of health data will be allowed. As a compromise, the ENVI-LIBE rapporteurs have suggested to introduce an opt-out model, where citizens can indicate that they would like to exclude the re-use of their health data from EHDS. While we believe the original Commission proposal already put in place the necessary safeguards, we do think the opt-out model could be an appropriate compromise considering the political situation, if the necessary provisions are in place to make sure it is workable in practice. It is e.g. essential that the model is implemented in a harmonised way across the EU, includes a differentiated approach for different types of data, is accompanied with sufficient information provision to EU citizens on the benefits of sharing their data and the safeguards in place to protect their privacy and if there are further elaborations on ethical principles.

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