Today, the president of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), Professor Jane Dacre, has joined leaders of over 100 national and European health organisations who have signed a letter in The Times to voice concern about the potential negative impact of EU data protection regulation on medical research.
The signatories write:
There is a very real risk that the EU Data Protection Regulation currently being negotiated in Brussels will make crucial research unworkable. Disproportionate limits on the use of personal data in health research have been proposed that would immediately threaten studies across Europe involving millions of participants.
It’s critical that these restrictions are not included in the final version of the law.
Earlier this year the RCP joined the European Data in Health Research Alliance, which brings together academic, patient and research organisations from across Europe to ensure that data protection regulation supports medical research to, improves lives.