International Health Data Transfers in the United Kingdom: The Legal Framework

This chapter discusses the legal framework for international health data transfers in the United Kingdom (UK)United Kingdom (UK). It covers the regimes from confidentiality and privacy law that govern international disclosures of health information that may be said to be confidential and private, and which may arise in the biomedical context (be it for patients or research participants). It also covers international transfer within the data protection law regime, as reflected in the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018)Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018). As part of this, consideration is given to the proposed amendments to the international data transfer regime under the proposed Data Protection and Digital Information BillData Protection and Digital Information Bill, which ultimately did not survive the 2023–24 legislative session before the UK General Election in July 2024. I consider the merits of several key criticisms and concerns levied against the data protection legal framework and speculate as to what further reforms might be considered necessary to adequately those criticisms and concerns. Ultimately, greater international collaboration is called for to increase the level of harmonization for international data transfer regimes that apply to health data. This is necessary not only to appropriately balance the interests of organizations seeking to make these transfers with the rights and interests of those persons whose health data is being transferred, but also in turn to further promote responsible medical innovation and more effective public health and health care provision.