When will the Health Data Hub be transferred to a host that is not subject to US law? “Not before the presidential election”, clarified, Thursday, January 20, Cédric O, the Secretary of State for the digital transition, judging the context too sensitive.
This project to centralize several large French medical databases for scientific research purposes has been controversial since its creation in 2019, due to its digital service provider, Microsoft. The latter is, as an American company, subject to the extraterritorial laws of the United States, which may allow access to data by the authorities. The government has therefore promised its transfer to an actor under French or European law, after the National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (Cnil) and a decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union recommended it, mi -2020.
But settling the issue of transfer of accommodation during the election campaign is not a good idea, Mr. O argued: “We do not want this strategic choice to be over-determined by political considerations, he justified. We are not in the period of necessary serenity. » This topic should be addressed “after the presidential election”, did he declare. “In addition, the legal services and administration of the Ministry of Health have limited time available due to the Covid crisis”, explained the Secretary of State.
Opponents see avoidance of debates
In November 2020, the Minister of Health gave himself ” two years ” for “disappear” legal risks associated with hosting by Microsoft. But since then, the government has given no news on the promised tender. Opponents of the project have recently criticized the executive for putting it on hold during the presidential campaign, to avoid facing controversy.
This feeling was reinforced on January 10 by the withdrawal, in agreement with the Minister of Health, of the request for authorization filed by the Health Data Hub with the CNIL. The latter was to authorize the transfer to the platform of data from the National Health Data System (SNDS) and around forty other databases. Otherwise, the Health Data Hub remains in pilot mode: the jobs must be authorized one by one by the regulatory body.
The management of the platform, like Cédric O, underlines that the research already carried out since 2020 has enabled medical advances on Covid-19, for example in the field of comorbidities or drug interactions.
You have 34.62% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.