The European Health Data Space and your rights

The European Health Data Space (EHDS) is set out in an EU regulation: Regulation (EU) 2025/327. According to EUR-Lex, it was published in the Official Journal on 5 March 2025 and entered into force on 25 March 2025. The Commission’s EHDS page mentions 26 March 2025, which is one day later; here we follow EUR-Lex. Most of the rules come into effect only years later, in stages.

Timeline

Date	What applies
25 March 2025	Regulation in force
26 March 2027	General date of application; first secondary-use provisions
26 March 2029	Patients’ access rights for patient summaries, ePrescriptions and eDispensations; most rules on secondary use
26 March 2031	Access rights for medical images and imaging reports, lab results and discharge reports; rules for newly introduced EHR systems
26 March 2035	Third countries and international organisations can apply to join HealthData@EU

Discharge reports and lab results are in the second group. These are the documents patients most often struggle to read, and the EHDS access right for them starts in 2031.

Your rights once the rules apply

• Free and immediate access to at least the priority data categories, through an electronic access service, as soon as the data are registered (Article 3(1)). Member States may delay access for a limited period so that a health professional can first explain results that could have a significant impact (Article 3(3)).
• A free electronic copy in the European exchange format (Article 3(2)).
• Add your own information, clearly marked as entered by you. You cannot change what health professionals wrote (Article 5).
• Ask for corrections online (Article 6).
• Share your data with another provider, including one in another EU country (Article 7).
• Restrict access by health professionals to all or part of your data. You must be told that this may affect your care (Article 8).
• See who accessed your data, when they did so and which data they saw, with records kept for at least three years (Article 9).
• Opt out of secondary use, meaning the reuse of your data for research, policy or innovation, at any time and without giving reasons (Article 71).

Access services must also work for people who have authorised someone to act for them, for legal representatives, and for people with disabilities or low digital skills (Article 4).

What this means now

Until 2029, your rights depend on national law and the GDPR. If you want your records now, use the GDPR access request. National portals already differ widely in what they offer: see the comparison of patient portals.