Making anonymisation work in practice: MedTech Europe responds to EDPB Guidelines

Health data can play an important role in advancing medical research and innovation. Anonymisation can help enable the responsible use of this data while protecting people’s privacy by ensuring that individuals can no longer reasonably be identified.

MedTech Europe has responded to the European Data Protection Board’s draft Guidelines on Anonymisation. We welcome the EDPB’s recognition that whether data is truly anonymous depends on the circumstances in which it is held and used. At the same time, we believe organisations need clearer and more practical guidance to assess when data can genuinely be considered anonymous.

Our response calls for greater clarity on the information and realistic possibilities of identification that organisations should consider, how safeguards can reduce the risk of individuals being identified, and how established technical methods can support these assessments. We also encourage the EDPB to provide practical examples and tools that can help organisations apply the rules consistently. This would support the responsible use of data for research and innovation while maintaining a high level of protection for individuals.

Read MedTech Europe’s full response to the consultation for our detailed recommendations.