On 25 May 2018, a comprehensive set of new laws will provide guidelines for how personal data may or may not be utilised in research.

Each country within the European Union and the European Economic Area has until this date to implement this new legislation.

The Nordic countries have to comply with the new rules for personal data protection as stipulated in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), EU Regulation 2016/679.

A Norwegian initiative, led by NSD, aims to contribute to improved Nordic coordination of laws and regulations for personal data protection in research. The project group has published a position paper which was sent to the Nordic Council of Ministers on 10 September 2017.

In this paper, the Nordic network-project encourages the Nordic ministries to remember the importance and value of Nordic scientific research, especially register-based research, when drafting the national laws. It further states that: "Good and explicit conditions for research will send a clear signal that research is an important activity in the interest of society (...) Unambiguous wording with regards to the status of scientific, statistical and historical purposes within the privacy regulation is paramount in establishing that privacy protection and access to personal information for scientific purposes can go hand in hand".

With the implementation of the GDPR, the Nordic countries now face an unprecedented opportunity to create a common legal framework.

Further information:

• Read the full position paper.
• The Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD) has published "Data Management Guidelines" which aim to help researchers take data protection into consideration.
• The Swedish National Data Service (SND) has published a video about the benefits of register-based research and the opportunities it provides.
• See the NSDNews from April 2017 "New EU rules open the door to Nordic cooperation".