European Commission Press Release: “The set-up of the European Health Data Space will be an integral part of building a European Health Union, a process launched by the Commission today with a first set of proposals to reinforce preparedness and response during health crisis. This is also a direct follow up of the Data strategy adopted by the Commission in February this year, where the Commission had already stressed the importance of creating European data spaces, including on health….
In this perspective, as part of the implementation of the Data strategy, a data governance act is set to be presented still this year, which will support the reuse of public sensitive data such as health data. A dedicated legislative proposal on a European health data space is planned for next year, as set out in the 2021 Commission work programme.
As first steps, the following activities starting in 2021 will pave the way for better data-driven health care in Europe:
- The Commission proposes a European Health Data Space in 2021;
- A Joint Action with 22 Member States to propose options on governance, infrastructure, data quality and data solidarity and empowering citizens with regards to secondary health data use in the EU;
- Investments to support the European Health Data Space under the EU4Health programme, as well as common data spaces and digital health related innovation under Horizon Europe and the Digital Europe programmes;
- Engagement with relevant actors to develop targeted Codes of Conduct for secondary health data use;
- A pilot project, to demonstrate the feasibility of cross border analysis for healthcare improvement, regulation and innovation;
- Other EU funding opportunities for digital transformation of health and care will be available for Member States as of 2021 under Recovery and Resilience Facility, European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund+, InvestEU.
The set of proposals adopted by the Commission today to strengthen the EU’s crisis preparedness and response, taking the first steps towards a European Health Union, also pave the way for the participation of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in the future European Health Data Space infrastructure, along with research institutes, public health bodies, and data permit authorities in the Member States….(More)”.