IL TRATTAMENTO DEI DATI SANITARI AI SENSI DELREGOLAMENTO UE/2016/679

The thesis addresses the issue of health data processing in the light of Regulation 2016/679/EU. Specifically, the first part is dedicated to analyzing the particular regime that the European legislator has chosen to introduce, starting from the definition of the health data. After analyzing the legal bases legitimized for the processing, we investigate how the European legislator has imposed a general prohibition of processing, except in some instances. In this way, European Member States are free to maintain or introduce additional conditions while respecting their legal traditions. These exceptions demonstrate how the legitimate processing of health-related data represents, in most cases, an essential resource for the benefit not only of the data subject but also of the entire community. Just think of the processing of health data for scientific research purposes and the impact of the circulation of information and their combination on the development and study of new therapies and scientific advancement in general. From this point of view, the work's leitmotif is represented by the balance between the right to health and the right to data protection. After having illustrated the main doctrinal and jurisprudential theses on the right to health, the analysis focuses on the complex relationship between the right to health and the right to data protection in the context of the tragic emergency context caused by the worldwide spread of Covid-19. To this end, starting from the emergency legislation on the protection of health data in force for the duration of the emergency, it was decided to address the delicate issue of balancing the two rights, both fundamental. It considers how technology, through the introduction of contact tracing apps and the European green digital certification, has made a significant contribution to countering the spread of the infection, using data for a specific public interest. The survey profile that accompanied the entire work concerns the search for a balance between the right to health, on the one hand, and the protection of health data, on the other. The study aims to demonstrate how the European legislator himself pays particular attention to the balance between the two interests, drawing inspiration from the criteria of proportionality and reasonableness and rejecting any logic based on either or the right. For this reason, the same legislator has conceived the right to data protection as a flexible right, able to adapt to the purposes pursued through the processing of health data.