A new paper by Wenkai Li and Paul Quinn titled 'The European Health Data Space: An expanded right to data portability?’ is published on the journal Computer Law and Security Review.
The paper focuses on the proposal of the European Health Data Space, the first sector-specific common European data space under the European Union's data strategy, and its ambition to enhance the right of natural persons to data portability and promote interoperability in the health sector. The paper seeks to delineate to what extent the EHDS provides a new and expanded right alongside the right to data portability provided in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The authors argue that Article 3(8) of the EHDS proposal represents an important expansion with the potential to allow individuals more possibility to control and mobilise their electronic health data, especially those elements located within Electronic Health Records (EHRs), but also points out several limitations and inconsistencies in the new data portability right which could potentially hinder its functioning. This notably includes the proposal's failure to take into account the need for data portability for secondary use purposes, and the unclear relationship of Article 3(8) of the proposal with Article 9 of the GDPR. The authors recommend that these points should be considered carefully in future versions of the EHDS proposal.
The paper can be openly accessed at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0267364923001231.