25 August 2020

COCIR welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback to the consultation on the availability of public datasets as provided for by Article 14 of the Open Data Directive.

Public sector information is highly relevant for the healthcare sector and COCIR looks forward to the prospect of the availability of High Value Datasets in a European Health Data Space. COCIR is fully supportive of the principles laid down in the Open Data Directive with regard to the availability of High Value Datasets.

In addition, COCIR would like to formulate following general principles for the availability of High Value Datasets:
1. High value datasets should imply high quality of the datasets
2. Availability of public datasets should work cross-border
3. Availability of datasets should come with minimal delay
4. Equal access to High Value Datasets for all actors and all sectors
5. Prior assessment and consultation with private sector partners in case of particular concerns

COCIR recommends that the European Commission makes use of its delegated powers to include health information as a thematic category.

COCIR would like to encourage the European Commission to include High Value Datasets, for instance on population health data, health system effectiveness and availability of healthcare resources.

COCIR would like to emphasise the need for sufficient funding in order to create the appropriate conditions for availability of High Value Datasets.

COCIR remains fully committed to work with the European Commission, the EU Member States and other relevant stakeholders to increase the meaningful use and re-use of public sector information in order to foster a competitive and strong European digital health sector, to support the resilience and capacity of health systems and to improve health outcomes for patients.