The EU Article 29 Working Party ("WP29") has published
a letter to the European Commission
("EC") on the scope of health data in relation to
lifestyle and well-being apps, following the EC's Working Document on mHealth and the outcome of
its public consultation, which generated interest in strong privacy
and security tools, and strengthened enforcement of data
protection.
In the letter, WP29 addresses the exceptions to processing
health data for historical, statistical or scientific research, and
requests that the EC ensure that any secondary processing of health
data only be permitted after having obtained explicit consent from
individuals.
The Annex to the letter acknowledges that
determining the scope of health data is particularly complex and
can have a wider interpretation depending on context, and is likely
to capture apps measuring blood pressure or heart rate –
exactly the types of apps that are already widely available.
