Initial overview of legal and ethical requirements

Introduction and objectives

During the first eight months of DE4A, a report was drafted to provide an initial overview of relevant legal and ethical requirements. Given the timing, that report did not aim to capture conclusive findings on all legal and ethics topics. Moreover, it should not be considered fully comprehensive or up to date anymore, since the legislation and its interpretation have evolved since the time of finalisation (in August 2020). None the less, this report aims to present the central topics that have been under discussion within the consortium, and captures some of the main positions taken on the meaning of the SDGR at the time of submission. More importantly, it summarises the working assumptions on the interpretation and impact of the law on the project. In other words, it is not an abstract reflection on legal difficulties, but lays out what the consequences of specific interpretations would be, and which interpretations the consortium intends to apply during piloting.

Contents of the report

Key topics covered by this report include the main legal and ethical requirements imposed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Single Digital Gateway Regulation (SDGR), which are the main frameworks governing respectively data protection and once-only e-government exchanges in the EU. These include:

- the preview requirement

- explicit request

- GDPR compliance

- the relevance of structure in exchanged evidences

- charging

- lawfulness of piloting and further processing of evidences.

The relevant sections of the report were developed iteratively and interactively through white papers and online discussions between all project partners. In this way, the positions taken in this deliverable were not necessarily conclusive, but they will be informed and driven by existing understanding of the law across DE4A members.

The report also recognises that there are many uncertainties still on the exact interpretation of the SDGR. It is intended that the findings of this report and its working assumptions will be further refined and adjusted, based on future discussions and working experiences in DE4A. In this way, they can contribute further to achieving consensus between the Member States, and in providing useful feedback to national and EU level legislators and policy makers, so that the SDGR can achieve its intended goals.

For more information

A full version of the document can be downloaded here: D7.1 Overview of legal and ethical requirements