ESR photo Research project Health Data Governance in the Age of Digital Health: The Legal Approaches of the EU and China About the project We are currently amidst a wave of digital health evolution, characterised by the integration of advanced digital technologies into health and care, including artificial intelligence, wearables, and health-monitoring sensors. These technologies hold immense potential for enhancing care provision, particularly in aging societies such as Europe. However, this rapid development also presents substantial challenges to the legal governance of health data. In particular, the surge in health data processing gives rise to two conflicting needs. On one hand, the processing of large quantities of health data is essential for addressing societal demands, especially in the context of elderly care. On the other hand, ensuring the privacy of individuals requires robust legal frameworks to protect health data from misuse, often necessitating strict limitations on data processing. This tension highlights the need for legal frameworks that not only safeguard health data privacy but also facilitate its effective utilization. To fully harness the benefits of digital health technologies, it is crucial to explore the legal governance of health data in a comparative, international context. Taking a global perspective, this project entailed a comparative legal study examining the regulatory paradigms governing health data in two major aging societies, the European Union and China. By comparatively investigating the regulatory landscapes of the EU and China, this research shed light on the interplay between the protection of health data privacy and the processing of such data to meet the challenges posed by an aging population. Start date: April 2021 Expected end date: September 2025 Progress of the project This project entails a comparative legal study between the health data protection legal framework of the European Union (EU) and that of China, in the context of using digital technologies for health-related purposes, with a focus on assisted living. Terms, concepts, and legal rules in both jurisdictions have been examined and compared so that similarities and differences are identified. On this basis, this dissertation sought to make recommendations that could inform policymakers about the possible legal paths of regulating the protection and processing of health data in the tide of digital health transformation. In this project, a traditional legal dogmatic method was applied. The method involved an in-depth interpretation and systematisation of the positive (material) law of the EU and China related to the research subject. Positive law is mainly expressed in constitutions, regulations, preliminary works, and case law. Secondary sources such as academic articles and guidelines from data protection authorities, etc. were also used. The purpose of applying the dogmatic method was to present the content of legislation in an orderly manner that follows the established hierarchy of legal sources to identify gaps and contradictions in regulation. Several major pillars of this project have been completed, including: (1) the overview and taxonomy of the phenomenon of digital health; (2) the investigation on the legal model of health data governance under EU law; (3) the research on the legal model of health data governance under Chinese law; (4) the research on the legal role of privacy preserving technologies (with a focus on anonymisation) under the health data protection legal framework; (5) investigation on whether updates are necessary for EU and China’s respective legal rules on health data governance and relative recommendations. Scientific publications Bridging science and privacy: Health data governance in the age of digital health: The legal approaches contexts of the EU and China Zhicheng He Bridging science and privacy: Health data governance in the age of digital health: The legal approaches contexts of the EU and China In Proceedings of the Joint visuAAL-GoodBrother Conference on trustworthy video- and audio-based assistive technologies, 26-28. Alicante, Spain, 2024 From Privacy-Enhancing to Health Data Utilisation: The Traces of Anonymisation and Pseudonymisation in EU Data Protection Law Zhicheng He From Privacy-Enhancing to Health Data Utilisation: The Traces of Anonymisation and Pseudonymisation in EU Data Protection Law Digital Society, 2, 17, 2023 Position paper on ethical, legal and social challenges linked to audio- and video-based AAL solutions Ake-Kob, Alin; Aleksic, Slavisa; Alexin, Zoltán; Blaževičienė, Aurelija; Čartolovni, Anto; Colonna, Liane; Dantas, Carina; Fedosov, Anton; Fosch-Villaronga, Eduard; Florez-Revuelta, Francisco; He, Zhicheng; Jevremović, Aleksandar; Klimczuk, Andrzej; Kuźmicz, Maksymilian; Lambrinos, Lambros; Lutz, Christoph; Malešević, Anamaria; Mekovec, Renata; Miguel, Cristina; Mujirishvili, Tamar; Pajalic, Zada; Perez Vega, Rodrigo; Pierscionek, Barbara; Ravi, Siddharth; Sarf, Pika; Solanas, Agusti; Tamò-Larrieux, Aurelia Position paper on ethical, legal and social challenges linked to audio- and video-based AAL solutions GoodBrother COST Action, Technical Report, 2022 When data protection norms meet digital health technology: China's regulatory approaches to health data protection Zhicheng He When data protection norms meet digital health technology: China's regulatory approaches to health data protection Computer Law & Security Review, 47, 105758, 2022 Health Data Protection: The Regulatory Approaches of China Zhicheng He Health Data Protection: The Regulatory Approaches of China In Session “Healthcare Issues in Asia and Beyond” at the 2022 Global Meeting on Law and Society, Lisbon, Portugal, 2022. State of the art on ethical, legal, and social issues linked to audio- and video-based AAL solutions Ake-Kob, Alin; Blazeviciene, Aurelija; Colonna, Liane; Čartolovni, Anto; Colantonio, Sara; Dantas, Carina; Fedosov, Anton; Florez-Revuelta, Francisco; Fosch-Villaronga, Eduard; He, Zhicheng; Klimczuk, Andrzej; Kuźmicz, Maksymilian; Lukács, Adrienn; Lutz, Christoph; Mekovec, Renata; Miguel, Cristina; Mordini, Emilio; Pajalic, Zada; Pierscionek, Barbara Krystyna; Santofimia Romero, Maria Jose; Salah, Albert Ali; Sobecki, Andrzej; Solanas, Agusti; Tamò-Larrieux, Aurelia State of the art on ethical, legal, and social issues linked to audio- and video-based AAL solutions GoodBrother COST Action, Technical Report, 2022 Privacy-enhancing Technologies for Active and Assisted Living: What Does the GDPR Say? Zhicheng He Privacy-enhancing Technologies for Active and Assisted Living: What Does the GDPR Say? In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments (PETRA '22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 430–433, 2022. “Best Workshop Student Paper Award” Bridging Law and Technology: Seeing Through Privacy-Enhancing Technologies for Assisted Living from the Perspective of EU Data Protection Law Zhicheng He Bridging Law and Technology: Seeing Through Privacy-Enhancing Technologies for Assisted Living from the Perspective of EU Data Protection Law GoodBrother COST Action International Conference on Privacy-friendly and Trustworthy Technology for Society, Zagreb, Croatia, 2022. Colliding Legal Frameworks in the Era of Active and Assisted Living: Comparing the approaches of the EU and China Zhicheng He Colliding Legal Frameworks in the Era of Active and Assisted Living: Comparing the approaches of the EU and China 2021 XXXVI Nordic Conference on Law and Information Technology, Oslo, Norway, 2021. About the ESR Zhicheng is interested in exploring the interaction between law and information technology. He completed his Master of Laws in International Business Law (LL.M.) at Ghent University (Belgium) where he dedicated his thesis to personal data protection. He holds another Master of Laws degree and a Bachelor of Laws degree, both from Southwest University of Political Science and Law (China). Before his position in visuAAL, Zhicheng worked as an in-house legal counsel and gained practical experience in the ICT sector. Contact information Zhicheng He The Swedish Law and Informatics Research Institute (IRI) Department of Law Stockholm University Universitetsvägen 10C 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden Email address: zhicheng.he@juridicum.su.se
Bridging science and privacy: Health data governance in the age of digital health: The legal approaches contexts of the EU and China Zhicheng He Bridging science and privacy: Health data governance in the age of digital health: The legal approaches contexts of the EU and China In Proceedings of the Joint visuAAL-GoodBrother Conference on trustworthy video- and audio-based assistive technologies, 26-28. Alicante, Spain, 2024
From Privacy-Enhancing to Health Data Utilisation: The Traces of Anonymisation and Pseudonymisation in EU Data Protection Law Zhicheng He From Privacy-Enhancing to Health Data Utilisation: The Traces of Anonymisation and Pseudonymisation in EU Data Protection Law Digital Society, 2, 17, 2023
Position paper on ethical, legal and social challenges linked to audio- and video-based AAL solutions Ake-Kob, Alin; Aleksic, Slavisa; Alexin, Zoltán; Blaževičienė, Aurelija; Čartolovni, Anto; Colonna, Liane; Dantas, Carina; Fedosov, Anton; Fosch-Villaronga, Eduard; Florez-Revuelta, Francisco; He, Zhicheng; Jevremović, Aleksandar; Klimczuk, Andrzej; Kuźmicz, Maksymilian; Lambrinos, Lambros; Lutz, Christoph; Malešević, Anamaria; Mekovec, Renata; Miguel, Cristina; Mujirishvili, Tamar; Pajalic, Zada; Perez Vega, Rodrigo; Pierscionek, Barbara; Ravi, Siddharth; Sarf, Pika; Solanas, Agusti; Tamò-Larrieux, Aurelia Position paper on ethical, legal and social challenges linked to audio- and video-based AAL solutions GoodBrother COST Action, Technical Report, 2022
When data protection norms meet digital health technology: China's regulatory approaches to health data protection Zhicheng He When data protection norms meet digital health technology: China's regulatory approaches to health data protection Computer Law & Security Review, 47, 105758, 2022
Health Data Protection: The Regulatory Approaches of China Zhicheng He Health Data Protection: The Regulatory Approaches of China In Session “Healthcare Issues in Asia and Beyond” at the 2022 Global Meeting on Law and Society, Lisbon, Portugal, 2022.
State of the art on ethical, legal, and social issues linked to audio- and video-based AAL solutions Ake-Kob, Alin; Blazeviciene, Aurelija; Colonna, Liane; Čartolovni, Anto; Colantonio, Sara; Dantas, Carina; Fedosov, Anton; Florez-Revuelta, Francisco; Fosch-Villaronga, Eduard; He, Zhicheng; Klimczuk, Andrzej; Kuźmicz, Maksymilian; Lukács, Adrienn; Lutz, Christoph; Mekovec, Renata; Miguel, Cristina; Mordini, Emilio; Pajalic, Zada; Pierscionek, Barbara Krystyna; Santofimia Romero, Maria Jose; Salah, Albert Ali; Sobecki, Andrzej; Solanas, Agusti; Tamò-Larrieux, Aurelia State of the art on ethical, legal, and social issues linked to audio- and video-based AAL solutions GoodBrother COST Action, Technical Report, 2022
Privacy-enhancing Technologies for Active and Assisted Living: What Does the GDPR Say? Zhicheng He Privacy-enhancing Technologies for Active and Assisted Living: What Does the GDPR Say? In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments (PETRA '22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 430–433, 2022. “Best Workshop Student Paper Award”
Bridging Law and Technology: Seeing Through Privacy-Enhancing Technologies for Assisted Living from the Perspective of EU Data Protection Law Zhicheng He Bridging Law and Technology: Seeing Through Privacy-Enhancing Technologies for Assisted Living from the Perspective of EU Data Protection Law GoodBrother COST Action International Conference on Privacy-friendly and Trustworthy Technology for Society, Zagreb, Croatia, 2022.
Colliding Legal Frameworks in the Era of Active and Assisted Living: Comparing the approaches of the EU and China Zhicheng He Colliding Legal Frameworks in the Era of Active and Assisted Living: Comparing the approaches of the EU and China 2021 XXXVI Nordic Conference on Law and Information Technology, Oslo, Norway, 2021.