Suchergebnisse

The expression "risk regulation" conveys the idea of normalisation of the way in which the State deals with the problems raised by risk, through rules, institutions and procedures set up to either prevent risk or manage it once it materialises. It must be conceded, however, that there is a tension between risk regulation (understood as a means of bringing risk under control) and the fact that the emergence of new risks has persistently caused turmoil. For this reason, risk is proving to be a serious test of the State's ability to pursue the public interest when dealing with issues which are characteristically complex, both technically and socially.The European Union has responded to the BSE and GMO crises by developing a truly European risk regulation system which has been a major driver of legal and institutional reform. Implementation has been far from homogeneous across the Member States, however, my premise being that the objective of normalisation has met perhaps unexpected obstacles in Southern European countries like Portugal, raising the question of the kind of local conditions which may either favour or hinder Europeanisation processes. This paper discusses the topic based on the analysis of three case studies illustrating the way the Portuguese state has tackled environmental and public health risks, and the impact of EU law and policy on the whole question.

This article provides a comparative analysis of the contents of two parliamentary hearings on BSE carried out in Portugal in 1993 and 1996 as instances of interaction between science and politics. One question to be addressed is the extent to which relationships between science and politics in Portugal as a so-called "semiperipheral society" differ from those of more advanced states, and how one can possibly explain those differences. Another issue to be considered is whether the Europeanization of BSE crisis after March 1996 has played a role and, if so, what role in the evolution of the attitudes and behavior of Portuguese policy makers toward science and toward risk. The question is whether political and administrative culture is changing in Portugal under the effect of both the Europeanization of regulatory processes and the emergence of a "risk society."

ABSTRACT - How healthcare is being administered is nowadays one of the distinctive traits expressing the progress of a given society. The steadfast implementation of e-health services has become an indispensable tool in order to bring the provision of healthcare to the next level. Notwithstanding e-health's actual and promising applications, e-health hinges on highly sensitive information on patients' personal lives and even intimacy, which, in Member States of the European Union (EU), must comply with the pertinent personal data protection legislation. In effect, health data have been classified as a special category of personal data by Directive 95/46/EC, the Data Protection Directive (DPD). The DPD subjects the processing of personal health data to a specific, stronger protection compared to less sensitive personal data in the form of a prohibition, which can only be excepted when the data subjects grant their explicit consent to the processing or if such consent is overridden by a superior interest provided by the law. Aware of the major changes brought about by technological progresses in this field, the EU initiated in January 2012 a revision of the DPD. Eventually, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) were published in May 2016, to be applicable as of spring 2018. Regulation 2016/679 displays an even greater carefulness with the safeguard of health data than the DPD. Yet, it is unclear whether this legal reform is up to the challenge of current technological developments, particularly, as so-called big data technologies advance. Notwithstanding the impulse that the EU is placing on e-health and cross-border cooperation, e-health systems are developing primarily at the domestic level. In this article, we will seek to review and compare different e-health platforms now operating under the public health system of a EU member state, Portugal, with a specific focus on how the legal protection of personal data is being configured for each of them. Given the growing importance of big data in the field of health, we extend our comparative endeavour to this emerging phenomenon. ; RESUMO - No modo como os cuidados de saúde são ministrados reside um traço distintivo do nível de progresso de uma dada sociedade. A rápida implementação de serviços de e-saúde converteu-se num instrumento indispensável do progresso na prestação de serviços de saúde. Não obstante as promessas que acompanham as atuais e futuras aplicações no domínio da e-saúde, estas implicam a recolha e utilização de informação de elevado grau de sensibilidade sobre a vida pessoal e mesmo a intimidade dos pacientes, a qual, nos Estados-membros da União Europeia (UE), deve respeitar a legislação pertinente sobre a proteção de dados pessoais. Na realidade, a Diretiva 95/46/ CE, Diretiva Proteção de Dados (DPD), classifica os dados de saúde como uma categoria especial de dados. A DPD sujeita o processamento de dados de saúde a uma proteção específica mais forte se comparada com a proteção conferida a dados pessoais menos sensíveis sob a forma de uma proibição que apenas pode ser exceptuada em caso de consentimento explícito dos titulares dos dados ou se esse consentimento for superado por um interesse superior contemplado pela lei. Consciente das mudanças decorrentes dos progressos tecnológicos neste domínio, a UE iniciou em 2012 o processo de revisão da DPD. O Regulamento (UE) 2016/679 do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho de 27 de abril de 2016 sobre a proteção das pessoas naturais no que respeita ao tratamento de dados pessoais e a livre circulação desses dados (Regulamento Geral de Proteção de Dados) foi publicado em maio de 2016, para entrar em vigor na Primavera de 2018. Este Regulamento revela uma preocupação ainda maior do que a DPD no que se refere à salvaguarda dos dados de saúde. No entanto, não é claro se este regime está à altura dos desafios suscitados pelo desenvolvimento tecnológico, particularmente, em face dos avanços das tecnologias de "big data". Apesar do impulso dado pela UE à cooperação internacional no domínio da e-saúde, os sistemas de saúde vêm sendo desenvolvidos antes de mais no plano nacional. Neste artigo, procuramos examinar e comparar diferentes plataformas de e-saúde que operam hoje em dia no quadro do sistema nacional de saúde de um Estado- membro da UE, Portugal, focando a atenção no modo como é configurada a proteção legal dos dados pessoais no âmbito de cada uma dessas plataformas. Dada a importância crescente das aplicações de "big data" na área da saúde, estendemos a nossa análise comparativa a este fenómeno emergente. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion