Lianos, Ioannis; (2025) Access to Health Data, Competition and Regulatory Alternatives: Three Dimensions of Fairness. Journal of Competition Law & Economics (In press).

Text Lianos_Revised Submission Access to health data paper.pdf Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 2 January 2026. Download (971kB)

Abstract

The EU legal framework for data access and portability has undergone significant evolution, particularly in the realm of health data, with recent initiatives like the European Health Data Space (EHDS) and competition law enforcement expanding data-sharing obligations across various economic actors. This evolution reflects a shift from an initial emphasis on individuals' fundamentalrights to access and port their health data—rooted in privacy protection, personal data rights, and digital sovereignty—towards a more utilitarian perspective. This newer approach extends data-sharing obligations to cover co-generated data involving end-users, business users, and complementors within digital health ecosystems, promoting a concept of data co-use or co-ownership rather than private ownership. Furthermore, the regulatory framework has proactively established ‘data commons’ to foster cumulative innovation and broader industry transformation. The increasing prominence of a fairness rhetoric in EU regulatory and competition law underscores a transformational intent, aiming not only to acknowledge stakeholders' contributions to data generation but also to ensure equal economic opportunities within the digital health space and facilitate the EU's digital transition. This study adopts a law and political economy perspective to examine the competitionrelated bottleneck issues specific to health data, considering the economic structure of its generation, capture, and exploitation. It then analyses the distributive implications of current regulations (including the DMA, Data Act, EHDS, Digital Governance Act, and Competition Law) by exploring relationships between key economic players: digital platforms and end users, platforms and their ecosystem complementors, and external third-party businesses interacting with the digital health ecosystem.

Download activity - last month

Export as JSONXMLCSV

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as JSONXMLCSV

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as XMLCSVJSON

Archive Staff Only

View Item