BIOMAP partner UNIVIE, serving as member of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy task force on Health Data

Addressing the gaps on health-related data protection is a key priority at the international level. Therefore a special task force of health privacy experts has been established by UN in order to draft a Recommendation on the process and use health data. The taskforce was led by the UN SRP, Joe Cannataci, and chaired by Nikolaus Forgó with the support of the UNIVIE team and more than ten experts. The task force has presented the final text of the Recommendation to the UN General Assembly in October 2019 and to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2020. https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Privacy/SR_Privacy/FINALHRDDOCUMENT.pdf

UNIVIE has played a key role in administering the several hundred contributions by stakeholders from across the world, which were considered by the task force, and reflected in the Recommendation. Given the UN’s prominence in global politics and policy development, this document will likely serve as an important reference and starting point both for national governments and private entities in developing new legislation and best practices in the handling and protection of health related data, especially in electronic formats.