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European Parliament supports legal duty to exchange information.

23 April 2009

On 23 April 2009 the European Parliament voted to adopt its first reading report on the proposed directive on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare. 297 MEPs voted in favour of the report, 120 against and 152 abstained. The report, prepared by John Bowis MEP (UK Conservatives), contained two amendments placing a legal duty on regulatory authorities to exchange information. One of these was tabled by UK MEP Arlene McCarthy (Article 5 §1b(e)) and the other by John Bowis MEP, the rapporteur for the proposal (Article 13 §2c).

In her closing remarks at the end of the parliamentary debate, the European Commissioner for Health, Androulla Vassiliou, spoke about the difficulties healthcare regulators face in sharing information about healthcare professionals across borders to ensure that patient safety is maintained: “I understand the concerns raised regarding the difficulty of getting clear information on health professionals when seeking healthcare abroad. Here, we need to agree on practical solutions which also respect a number of key principles, such as the right to personal data protection and the presumption of innocence. I am sure that common ground can be found on the basis of your preliminary suggestions.”

The draft directive will now be considered by member states in the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) under the Swedish Presidency of the EU. EPSCO is expected to issue a common position by the end of the year which will then be considered at second reading in the European Parliament.

To view the verbatim report of debate held in the European Parliament on the draft directive visit: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+CRE+20090423+ITEM-003+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN


The European Parliament first reading report can be viewed on the Parliament website at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&reference=P6-TA-2009-0286&language=EN&ring=A6-2009-0233